Psychotic
by kygirl101
Summary: We all know that if one Hitachiin dies, the other does too. But what if one's only braindead? Would the other reach out for someone else? KyouKao?Possible AU-ish Rating mught go up o.o
1. Prolouge

Prologue

I remember the first time I ever saw Hitachiin Kaoru. I was seven, and observing the inner workings of the hospital that my family ran. The sallow faced woman behind the nurse's station who was charged with watching me while my father was in a business meeting was preoccupied with the current chart pile up the retching man on the floor above us. Any normal child would have taken this opportunity to sneak off and cause ruckus, yet I, as an Ootori, simply stood and watched people.

An old man who seemed to be missing all his teeth, along with his left leg, was playing checkers with a young nurse; a married couple were sitting in the waiting room chairs, grouching about the small cut on the husband's cheek; a small blond boy was holding his wrist as his father, a strict looking man, explained to the attendant that his son had fractured it while practicing martial arts. Two women were conversing in thick Russian accents while a third stood off to the side, trying to translate the rapid fire speech to a confused looking doctor.

Although the seats were half filled, the noise level was surprisingly low; the time seemed to trickle by in sporadic periods. Some times, I would glance at the clock and see thirty minutes had passed. Other time, barely seconds had elapsed. No matter how much I pretended to enjoy the time I spent here, I found this branch of the hospital completely and utterly boring.

"Ootori-sama," I jumped as the nurse acknowledged me for the first time since I'd become her charge. "Your father is going to be a little longer in his press conference. He wishes for you to stop dawdling around the station and put yourself to good use."

Politely, I dipped my head and slid off the swivel chair I'd been occupying for the last three minutes.

Honestly, there was no real reason to explore the hospital; I knew the grounds and floors by heart and I could recite the top clientele's names off the top of my head, so there was no reason to acquaint myself with the patients, either.

Instead, I settled for wandering. It was wandering, but not aimlessly, for my family never did anything without there being a secret meaning behind it. I was simply taking a walk to clear my head, allowing my feet to do all the activity required to keep myself from running into anything.

My train of though, no matter the subject, was suddenly cut off as I heard a scream. It was a high pitched, loud note; like those cries of mother's who'd lost children to various, preventable things…Only…this one sounded younger.

Rounding the corner I found myself staring upon a strange sight.

A small, red headed boy was sobbing onto the linoleum tile, while a nurse tried to calm him. What appeared to be his mother and father stood a few feet away, sobbing into each other's arms as the beeping sound of a monitor chirped mournfully from a room of to the right.

"No!" The smaller boy was screaming. He pulled his knees up to his chin so he was sitting on his shins before biting a clothed kneecaps and screaming. "No!! No, no, no, no, no!! You're lying!!"

The woman's crying intensified and she knelt down to grip her son. "Kaoru, Kaoru honey…it's over. We have to go home now."

I watched as the boys stopped crying only to choke on his own tears, doubling over and coughing on the floor. He looked…so pathetic and helpless. I watched as he was picked up by his father, and as the three retreated towards the exit, still screaming and crying.

I watched until they were out of my site, then I listened until I could no longer hear the boy's sobs. The nurse retreated to her other patients and two doctors emerged from the room, looking emotionless.

The beeping continued as I inched forward, pressing my ear to the door, cautious of any activity. There was nothing. I pressed my hand to the door, about to push it open, when I heard a voice behind me.

"Kyouya," my father's stern tone made me freeze, turning slowly until I could see him. His face continued to face forward, towards the diamond patterned window that I was too short to see though, but his eyes were looking into mine. "You have no business in that room," he told me, gripping my shoulder tightly and pushing me slightly towards the exit.

Being naïve was one of my adolescent qualities; I would later grow out of it, never asking questions unless I already knew some form of the answer, but at the age of seve, I knew no better.

"Who was in that room, father?"

He looked…sad. Not his usual powerful, touch-me-not-or-I'll-sue-you demeanor, nor his emotionless posture. The hand on my shoulder tightened somewhat as we both looked over our shoulder at the hospital's front door. The bright sunlight glinted off his glasses, attracting my attention again.

"That was the older of the Hitachiin twins," he said gravely. "The boy you saw in the hallway was his younger brother. The man and woman were their parents."

"Yes, but what happened to him?" I asked, bringing my right hand up to chew on the nail. My father slapped my hand away from my mouth, eyes cold and emotionless again. He stood up straighter.

"The boys were attempting to climb a three story tree, and the older fell." I felt myself shrink. "He is in a coma and may never wake up. Legally, Kyouya, he is brain dead."

**Okay, so just since I'm starting this, don't think that I've abandoned I Bet or Until It Becomes A Pumpkin. I already have the first three chapters (well, four if you include this one) of Phycotic written, so my energy will be taken up with the other stories. **

**So, ya'll are aware of the author's food and drink, I suppose. No? Why, it's those little bits of writing called 'reviews'. Now, I'm starving over here, so please; donate some reviews!! puppy eyes**


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Over the next four years, I saw Hitachiin Kaoru being swept in and out of the hospital like it was no one's business, all for different reasons.

_I broke my wrist._

_He hit his head on the door frame._

_I got into a fight._

_He's talking to himself all the time. Sometimes, he doesn't come out of his room for days at a time. All he does is sit in the closet with an old blanket._

_Kaoru tried to break a mirror; a piece split his hand._

All reasons seemed rather gruesome for a ten year old to have sustained, but I never questioned what his reasons were. In fact, I never talked to him, instead opting to watch as he continued to break his bones and mar his face.

His main doctors never seemed to be able to diagnose whatever mental issues his mother and father were looking for, nor any physical disabilities. They simply said that he was prone to massive mood swings and fits of unprecedented rage. They referred him to a shrink, to be seen three times a week.

Once I started following him to his appointments, I had to admit to myself that this Hitachiin Kaoru boy must have something I wanted; why else would I be following him around like some sick puppy, or taking a special interest in the goings on of his life? Of course, I convinced myself that he was just an interesting case to study; one I had been watching from the beginning.

Hitachiin Kaoru became my test subject, so to speak.

It was late one night; the hallways were cast into relief by the dimmed lights. The only sounds in the I.C.U (Intensive Care Unit) were the beeping sounds of monitors, the whooshing sounds of artificial lungs, and the occasional coughing fit. I sat, religiously writing in a simple notebook, blocking out the distracting noises so as to concentrate on my equations. It wasn't until someone spoke next to me that I realized I was not alone.

"He remembers you."

Calmly I looked up from my writing and found myself face to face with one Hitachiin Kaoru. He wore a hospital gown and gauze bandages around his forearms. What was more, he was smiling.

"He and I remember you from then," he said again, pointing at me. "He says that you were standing there with your father," he paused, as if expecting me to say something. When I didn't, he continued, "I couldn't see you, but if he says you were there, you had to be."

I hadn't heard him speak since that day, sum years ago…I now saw why he was not deemed at physiologically stable.

"And…who are you?" I asked, wondering if this question would even make any sense.

If possible, Kaoru's grin grew even wider. "'I' is Hikaru," he said, "'He' is Kaoru."

"And who are you?"

"I is he," he walked around the nurses station desk and walked up to me. Reaching out, he touched my notebook, and looked up at me. "What's you name?"

I yanked my notebook away from him and knitted my brow. A silence stretched between us as Kaoru continued to look at me expectantly and I stared down at him from my seat upon the station's table. _He was a short boy,_ I realized, _under average height, I expect._ _I wonder if that has anything to do with the stress he must feel all the t—_

"What's your name?" Kaoru asked again, this time extending a hand to tug on my sleeve. "His' is Kaoru, but I's is Hikaru. He and I want to know yours."

And there he went, speaking with improper nouns and misusing the words. I made a small mark on a fresh page of my notebook before answering him.

"My name is Ootori Kyouya."

He smiled and cocked his head to the left, which caused his messy bangs to flop listlessly. "Can he and I call you Kyouya?"

I nodded before returning to my notebook. Another short jot on the page I had labeled 'Hitachiin Kaoru/Hikaru' and I turned to a fresh one, where a list of children that went to my school with influential parents lay incomplete. Immersed in the world of names, numbers and memory, I barely noticed when Kaoru took a seat next to me.

"Will you play with us?" he asked lightly, poking my arm gently, as if testing the water. "We're bored and there's nothing interesting for him and I to do in the hospital."

I glared slightly at him. "No; I have work to do."

He shrugged and slipped off the desk. "Okay," he said, walking down the hallway and back the way he came. I watched him leave and found our eyes locked when he turned upon entering a room; the only one with an open door.

"Bye-bye, Kyouya!" he called softly, sending a smile towards me. "You're our best friend."

I know that shouldn't have mattered, coming from a clinically insane child who appeared to be hurting himself and referred to his brain-dead brother as 'I' and himself as 'he', but hearing him say that…truly touched me…

**MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAH--is shot**

**Okay, so love? Hate? In-between? Please review!! It makes up for my horrible lovelife!!**


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two:

Since Kaoru had first been admitted, every doctor told his parents he was at constant risk for a 'psychotic' break, where he would finally reach the end of his tether, so to speak. They—all of them—suggested avoiding any sudden changes in scenery, routine or education in his fragile state because if he was over stimulated or pressed too hard, Kaoru would break.

When I first heard this, I barely believed it. I figured he had reached the breaking point long ago, the day his twin had died. According to outside sources, I was wrong. I was officially proved wrong when he was thirteen and I was fourteen.

It started with the screaming. A long, loud and high pitched note coming from the end of the hallway. I know it attracted the attention of more people than myself, but I was the only one who walked forward and had the guts to press my face against the two way mirror. And, there was my proof.

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up!! Don't talk about what you don't know. You don't know a thing about him or I!!" That was Kaoru while he swiped a set of crayons and paper off the undersized table and standing up and upsetting the undersized chair.

The therapist scribbled, her pen frantically scanning the paper before she touched a small head set in here ear. I knew—as did Kaoru, it appeared—that this was the universal signal for backup. "And, Ka—_Hikaru…_why won't you let me get to know yourself and Kaoru?"

"Because," he was red in the face now, upsetting the table of stand of small books. He then rounded on the woman. "You're not allowed in our world. NO one is!!"

I knew the tricks she was using. She wanted to keep him talking, much like hostage negotiator would do, and hopefully wear him down or keep herself safe and free from any harm he might impose. At this thought, I scoffed. Kaoru wasn't dangerous.

"No one?" she asked, beginning to stand up slowly, as if afraid to startle him. "Not your family? A friend?"

"No one!! I have no family! I have no friends!! I am not dead and I am all that Kaoru needs. Not you, not mother and not—" he looked at the mirror and I felt a shiver run down my spine "—not anyone."

The therapist reached to press her head set again. Security wasn't coming fast enough for her liking.

"We don't need a friend!! We don't need our mother and father!! We don't want them, or this!!" Kaoru gestured wildly around the room. "We don't need you or your stupid notebook." He clenched his arms, fingernails leaving white crescents and he bit his lip, almost as hard. "We don't need anything. As long as we have each other, you can't take that away from us you crazy bitch!!" The red head fell to his knees, doubled over as his voice lost all conviction and hatred. It gave way to a weak and unrecognizably small voice. "We can't do it…we need each other…"

"No you don't. You are Kaoru and he is Hikaru. You are not the same person," her voice seemed to grow colder and I felt my chin raise. Couldn't she handle the situation with a little more…delicacy?

"No…You're wrong…We need each other. Hikaru needs me like—I mean I need Hikaru—I mean—We mean—He means—I mean…Hikaru…Kaoru…"

And then there was silence. I watched as the guards came to the room and simply escorted Kaoru back to his room. I watched as the younger boy—the psychopath—was frog marched listlessly past me, his eyes a blanker color of amber.

**. This is too short for me. So, for your dining pleasure, please enjoy this little side story that I made up on the spot.**

_Kaoru gaped, open mouthed, as his brother firmly grasped the tree branch in his slightly pudgey hand and attempted to pull his whole body onto the lowest branch. It didn't work, and Hikaru quickly turned to his brother, a wide grin of self endulgance and excitement on his features._

_Both boys knew they shouldn't be going this; both boys wanted to do this; both Hikaru and Kaoru knew that--If they were caught or fell--they would be in big trouble. But they did it anyways. They climbed over the baby gates that were overused and outdated, anyways, past the nurses, down the stairs, out into the backyeard and all the way across the garden to 'That Tree', the one they would always look at when falling asleep._

_Although these accomplishments were no great feats in general, for the five year old Hitachiin twins to escape quietly and unnoticed was a feat worthy of every record book in the world._

_And now, Kaoru was wishing that they hadn't. The tree was far too big; it loomed over both of them, it's shadown gobbling their's and keeping it hidden. Kaoru liked his shadow; it was his friend. The tree was mean looking, too!! It's branches were big and crooked, jutting out in odd angles and looking faintly like claws, waiting to grab unsuspecting children. Children like..._

_"Hikaru!!" Kaoru called, his voice higher than usual and scared. He didn't want the tree to eat his brother._

_Questioninly, the elder and more adventerous of the Hitachiin twins turned to face his brother, confusion now laced with the excitement that his eyes held. "Kao?"_

_"Hika, don't go!!" Tears were welling up in the younger's amber eyes. He was crying, watching as the tree's branches waved dangerously in the wind. Any second now, they would grab his brother and never give him back. The tears fell faster. "Don't go!!"_

_At once, Hikaru was by his brother's side, and reached out to brush a stray tear back from an overflowing eye. "Kao? Kao, don't cry. Hika's right here!!"_

_Nodding slightly and sniffling loudly, Kaoru tried to regain his composure. However, all he could do was whimper. "Hika...don't go. Not..safe..."_

_"Dun worry, Kao," the elder laughed off, "Silly Kaoru, I won't go without you. Next time, ne?"_

_He didn't want to. That tree scared him. But if Hikaru wanted to..._

_"Next time," he agreed, eyes starting to dry. Honestly, he couldn't remember why he was crying in the first place. One of the nurses was screaming from the house; their presense (or lack there of) had been discovered. _

_"Next time..."_

**There...that's more like it. Longer and with more meaning!! I had fun writing little twins!! They're just so cute!! /gobbles twins/ nomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom!! Yummy!!**


	4. Chapter Three

**...okay...so my writing style and the storyline changed a bit. They're in high school now, so I figured that Kyouya would be a little more scheaming and stuff...so...yeah...**

Chapter Three

As one can imagine, my information about Hitachiin Kaoru was limited and rarely updated, seeing as my personal investigation into his life was kept a secret from everyone; even my own family. There was only so much information one could obtain while remaining seemingly uninterested. But the thing was, I wasn't uninterested. I was hooked, caught, sitting on the edge of my seat while watching the rollercoaster thrill ride that was the younger boy's life. I couldn't help but watch him, when honestly, Kaoru was the brightest thing in my life. How's that for sad?

Apparently, now that I think about it, I guess I was his.

When I entered my first year of high school, a lot more information became available, via grape vine. You wouldn't believe the amount of information these children could obtain about their parents, other's parents and all those dirty little secrets that everyone tried so hard to keep under the rug. Well, perhaps you can, but you must believe me, it was an infinite source of talk and drama.

Rumors, such as that the red head was dying from a fatal mind disease that ate at his brain or that Kaoru suffered from multiple identities, floated around the shadowy side of the school programs, written in bathroom stalls, on small pieces of paper and occasionally scratched into the paint of the walls (However, those rarely ever lasted, for they were found 'vulgar' and 'inappropriate', were often painted over by the morning after).

I dithered here and there in the dark underworld of lies and rumors; in fact, I believe I was the main source of all the proper gossip, the facts that were straight and spot on. That's how I got labeled as the 'Shadow King'. Wonderful, right?

That was also the year I meet Souh Tamaki, a blond exchange student who seemed to take insults and compliments and didn't seem able to understand the words 'leave', 'me', 'the', 'fuck', and 'alone'. He was a bright eyed boy, who had more grand ideas than could fit in his head; this caused quite a bit of discrepancy, seeing as he would often act on these half baked schemes and result in making a total fool of himself. What was more, Tamaki insisted on being my best friend and, when I told him no, cried and spent a good ten minutes in some random corner, bemoaning about 'unreturned feelings' and 'woe'. That's hoe he was labeled as 'The King'. More acutely, the Drama Queen, but being called that made him sulk.

I didn't learn a lot about Kaoru that year; not many people had heard of him, nor the Hitachiin industry and those who had weren't eager to spread the news they had around. It was nine months after the introduction of Tamaki to my life, that I officially met Hitachiin Kaoru. Not Hikaru. Not HikaruandKaoru. But the actual personality of the younger twin. It was…different, to say the least.

* * *

"Hey, did you hear?"

"—The new boy? The red head?—"

"I heard he killed his nurses cat and was sent to the mental house—"

"—No, he shot his father in the leg—"

"I could have sworn that it was the other way around; his father shot him in the leg…"

Those were several of the rumors I heard that cloudy day. It was fall, school had just started up and I was already thriving in the presence of the teachers I had upgraded to since last year. My father was pleased with me furthering our family interests in the Souh heir and I had somehow managed to keep Tamaki from destroying anything valuable, such as our reputations. A good year, right? Well, it was about to get better and in the least likely place.

An after school club was a required activity; one that all students must participate in. Ouran had a wide variety of clubs, from chess to American football, to dancing. It wasn't very hard to find one that interested you, thus no students complained about the extra hour or so they were required to spend on the campus when they could have been starting in on the work load. There was even a homework club for those with fears of never getting the assigned work done.

The club that I, myself, attended was the group centered around those intending to proceed in a life of medicine. For some reason, Tamaki had insisted on joining me in the Med. Club, although he had his future laid out in front of him, and no where in the fine print did it say 'attend medical school'.

The exact date was unknown to me; another boring day with far too many clouds in the sky and too many wrong answers coming from the mouths of my fellow club members.

* * *

"But, I could have sworn that you had to apply pressure to the trachea when giving C.P.R."

That was Tamaki, with the wrong answer as usual. However, no one seemed bent on correcting him. In fact, the other's simply agreed with the blond fool; I couldn't tell if they were actually thought he was right, or were just playing nice. Either way, I knew several students who weren't going to pass their midterm exam in a few years.

"Isn't that right, Kyouya?" Tamaki asked, snatching the medical journal out from under my arms and flipping it open on the library table we were seated around. I couldn't help the roll of my eyes that went unnoticed by the other boys. One of them, a boy with dark brown hair that seemed to belong in the first year, nodded his head.

"Of course you have to press down; otherwise the fainted's lungs would fill up with CO2." I didn't know weather to correct his chemistry, anatomy or treatment plan first, and settled on none. "You see, if you don't apply pressure to the throat, they keep breathing and—"

"—Actually, if you're unconscious, you can't breath at all…"

I, along with my fellows, must have jumped three feet off our seats at the sound of a voice behind us. As one, we swiveled to find a red head—one I knew rather well—leaning against a book case with three large textbooks in his arms. Hitachiin Kaoru had joined our midst; entered like a god and looking just as holy.

"You see," he explained, sliding the books into the nearest shelf alcove and demonstrating with his hands, "You have to apply pressure to the nose of the unconscious body and tip the head back while giving C.P.R. Otherwise, when you breath into his or her mouth, you're simply pumping the air into their stomach, which will eventually burst and kill them. Plus," we watched as he turned to the dark haired first year, "CO2 is what a car emits; the only element that formula contains that will kill us is O2, and O2 does not rush down our throats. We have to actually be breathing in the first place, to inhale it and, as I've already stated, you can't breathe while unconscious."

Correct. He was right. Silence met Kaoru's answer, of course, but he was one hundred percent correct.

I blinked in surprise. He hadn't said 'we' or 'he' in an out of place interval once in that explanation. Perhaps the hours of therapy were working. Glancing around, I noticed the fellow Med. Club members gaping at him, a gasp; it was then that I remembered I was the most likely the only one to have heard or even seen Hitachiin Kaoru before this point; he was a stranger to the rest of them.

Kaoru seemed to have registered the awkward response he was getting, for I could see his muscles tense in his wiry neck and noticed the stiff nature for which he reached for his shelved books. His eyes were reasonably blank and defiant with the fierce kind of self preservation a wounded animal adopted when around people or other animals it was not familiar with. I guessed he didn't remember me.

"I, uh…sorry for butting in there, but you were wrong…I'll just be going now." Kaoru turned and, with a speed unknown to humans, Tamaki jumped up from his seat—upsetting the table and sending a cascade of papers and pens into the laps of seven other surprised high schooleres—and leapt past the red head to bar his exit. Like an excited puppy, the blond threw his arms away from his body and smiled.

"Who are you?!" he asked brightly, placing a hand on Kaoru's shoulder and steering the nonresistant boy back to the table. Kyouya glared at the blond, shifting slightly and trying to determine weather his leg was undamaged from the medical encyclopedia falling into his lap.

Kaoru was directed into Tamaki's vacated chair and the older boy took up residence on the table's edge. Here, he folded his hands and looked at the red head with an intense interest that was shared by the rest of the group. That is to say, by every one but myself. Kaoru's interest to me had died once his parents had employed a private physiatrist and withdrawn their son from my family hospital. I guess one could say that absence did not make the heart grow fonder; more of made the heart's owner require all bonds with the heart's desire to be severed and forced itself to fold over to hide the crease the heart's desire had left in the brain. But, that might be a little too philosophical for those of you who have never purposely distanced themselves from someone who truly entranced them.

Tamaki probed Kaoru again when he received no response. "You're new here, right? Well, I'm Souh Tamaki—vice president of the Medical Club, Med. Club for short—and that's my best friend, Ootori Kyouya—the actual president of the club—and on your right is…"

I could tell that neither Kaoru nor myself were paying attention to the wild introductions Tamaki was giving the other club members. I don't know how he could tell I wasn't interested, but I could tell by the way his amber eyes turned themselves upon me, wide open and the same vividly dulled amber they had been the day in the undersized child's play room, where he'd broken the habit (or was it a compulsion?) of calling himself by his brother's name.

I don't know what, exactly, I saw in the golden irises and—I hope—Kaoru didn't see anything in my eyes, shielded from the world by a thin sheet of glass. Perhaps there was…recondition…?

"—ou hear me?!"

We were both shaken from our own personal reveries, and Kaoru immediately turned his attention towards the eccentric blond. "I'm sorry, what?"

Tamaki huffed animatedly and ruffled the younger boy's red hair. I almost wanted to snap his hand off at the wrist and from the look that Kaoru gave the offending limb, he wanted to do the same with his teeth.

"I said, silly baka, that this is Fujioka Haruhi! I believe she's in the same class as you; the brilliant commoner scholarship student who is an extremely refreshing item to have in this our small collection of students wishing to follow a career of the medical sorts."

The brunette first year Tamaki was referencing in general sighed, rolled her eyes and allowed her head to flop onto the table, where her arms cushioned the fall. "I actually wanted to be a lawyer," she informed the group through the fabric of her yellow cufflinks, "But Tamaki-senpai said I would be much better suited proceeding in the medical terminology and that there wasn't a club for lawyers…"

"—Anyways," I rolled my eyes and willed my friend to shut up. "What brings you here, dear red headed boy, and how might we service you? You, my friend, have already avidly helped us in our time of despair, so we must do the same for you!! Are you lost in the library? Your studies?"

I honestly wished that Tamaki would stop offering to help random people. If I remembered correctly, it was he who had gotten the two of us and Haruhi wrapped into a service that involved a soup kitchen, homeless commoners, and a dog that was in heat and found it's opportune mate to me my pant leg…

"I'm Hitachiin Kaoru and, yes, I'm new here and kind of lost." I admired the way he admitted it; valiantly and slightly defiantly, while still polite and carefree. All this, however, was hidden under the most obvious tone in his voce: monotone. Kaoru turned his eyes towards myself again, and I felt a small amount of blood well into my cheeks as he inquired, "Do I know you from somewhere? You look vaguely familiar…"

"…No," I informed him. "I don't think you do. I certainly don't remember ever seeing you…"

A lie. A lie given for no reason; I knew Kaoru. I knew him well and, for some reason unbeknownst to myself, I was denying it. Could it be…jealousy? No, why would I be jealous of him? Complacent satisfaction? That he couldn't tie himself to me? A futuristic look? That I didn't want to find myself saddled with another Tamaki?

No none of those seemed quite right…

"Well, I know I've heard the name somewhere before," Kaoru said, a more offensive tone edging it's way into his voice. Tension prickled the air between us and it felt as if everyone in the room was aware of the tsunami under the surface of the cool waters. Well, all the room's occupants other than Tamaki.

My blond classmate took it upon himself to jump happily off the desk and extend a hand to Kaoru. With evidence from his statement that accompanied this action, I guessed he was one of the stupidest men in the world. "If you're already such good friends with my friend Kyouya, you simply must join the two of us for lunch some time!! Or, would you even consider joining our Medical club? You seem to have an extensive knowledge of the medical terminology and treatment; you'd be perfect!!"

Kaoru raised an eyebrow, eyes still attached to mine and a challenging look upon his face. "I don't think that would be proper; I am not going to be a doctor and I don't see what's so important about me eating lunch with you and _Kyouya-senpai_." He spat my name as if it were poison. The red head stood and, in forced politeness, bowed towards Tamaki. "I appreciate the offer, but I must decline. Good day."

And, just like that, he pushed past Tamaki and out of the library. I watched, silently grinding my teeth as the door closed with an audible click, followed by the sound of a bell ringing. The toll of the gong was the universal symbol that the entire school day was other, that students were to pack up their bags and leave the ground now, that clubs were over. My fellow medical scholars quickly took a chance to pack their bags and flee the presences of the pissed off 'Shadow King'. Only Tamaki—stupid, stupid Tamaki—remained behind with me.

"Kyouya," he whined. I didn't look at him, but he continued anyway. "Kyouya, why doesn't that boy like us? Have we ever wronged the Hitachiin family? I haven't even heard of it before now…"

I shook my head, unwilling to answer. Tamaki took it strife and proceeded to babble incessantly about random things—from agenda to his dinner menu—for the rest of the time it took our personal limos to arrive and pick us both up.

In that time, I realized something that my usually excellent brain failed to pick up on while we were in the library. Hitachiin Kaoru had ignored me, as well; he hadnm't pressed the matter of the days he spent in the hospital, the countless times we'd seen each other and the one time we'd actually spoken. Did that mean he was just as eager as I was to forget about the goings on in the hospital? Or, could it mean that he truly didn't remember me? If so, why had he acted so stand-offish when I'd claimed no relationship with him? Did he even remember Hikaru, and was I, in some way, connected to the brother he seemed forced to forget?

Later on that night, when I had resigned to my bedroom to work, I opened the drawer that I usually kept locked at all times, the one with my collection of notebooks. Contrary to popular belief, I only had a round dozen of the organized books, all ordered by date, then the age at which I had written them. I slowly extracted the one from the time when I was eleven.

The page labeled Hitachiin Hikaru/Kaoru was blank. No notes had I gathered from our one meeting prier. I sighed and lifted my pen to the old page.

'Hitachiin Kaoru seems to have larger reason for denying any ties with my family hospital than I do denying any ties to him.'

It was true. Kaoru was hiding something and I, as an Ootori, was determined to discover what it was. It was then that I made it my objective to gain his trust—'friendship' even, depending on his limitations of the word—and uncover every single on of his dirty little secrets, unreasonable reasons and untruthful truths. I was determined to figure out Hitachiin Kaoru, by any means necessary, then spill his secrets to the world of Ouran Gossip.

* * *

Unknown to myself at the time, some thirty miles away from my bedroom, Souh Tamaki sat in his own personal study, a large book on behavioral issues opened in his lap and the pages about detachment dog-eared. He sighed and closed the large book with a flump, thinking to have uncovered his intended bit of information.

Hitachiin Kaoru, he concluded, was acting the way he was—detached and passive aggressive—because he had endured some childhood trauma that had never been rectified in his mind. All that he needed now was closure on that matter.

That was when Tamaki gave his entire attention to 'Operation Fix Hitachiin Kaoru's Mental Traumas By Be-Friending Him'. What joy, right?

**So...hate the new style? Like it? Please review; let moi know, for I appreciate all feedback (except flames...flames will be burnt...XD)**


	5. Chapter Four

***le gasp* I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but here it is!!!**

Chapter Four

"You what?" I deadpanned, glaring at Tamaki over the dust jacket of my textbook. My bubbly friend just smiled at me, nodding enthusiastically and trying to sway me.

He smiled encouragingly at me, showing off every one of his perfectly white teeth. "I want to be his friend!! Don't you think that would be splendid? And, maybe we could persuade him to join the Med Club!!! Don't you think, Kyouya!!"

I was tempted to tell him where I think he should stick his idea, but refrained. I did glower in his direction, though, and this seemed to cause Tamaki to wilt slightly. The light from the overhead lamp flashed across my glasses, perhaps sealing the fact that this topic was never to be broached again. It was a dead conversation; the point was moot.

But Tamaki…stupid, stupid Tamaki, can never seem to take a hint…Dumb blond.

"But, maybe the only reason he's so lonely is because he hasn't got any friends!! Maybe he's one of those kids who grew up all by themselves, with no one to play with but the maids. Or maybe that poor, redheaded soul is only lost in the world that is high school and sexuality! Or, maybe he's one of those people who don't like people touching them!! Kyouya, do you know if the Hitachiin heir is a touch-a-phobic or something? What's the medical name for it again…"

I rolled my eyes listlessly and watched Tamaki rave on and on, not even aware of how off he was. I wasn't going to correct him. It was much more interesting this way.

"Is Kaoru-chan afraid of people, do you think? Is it possible that he was…hurt by people?"

My glare softened slightly. In a way he had…in a way…

Realizing the falter in my gaze, I quickly snapped back to the cold and evasive stature I so often adopted. But, my idiotic blond friend had seen, and he called me on it.

"Kyouya, you know more than you're telling and I'm getting close," Tamaki whined, attempting to push my book out of my hands. This resolved in a tussle and a rather puppy-dog-eyed blond, clutching his head and moaning about how 'mommy whacked him with her cook book'. 'Mommy' hit him with her 'cook book' again, just for good measure, before I swept all my belongings back into my school bag. The bell would ring soon, and I'd best be ready. The scowl that seemed permanently attached to my features didn't waver one bit, not even after I'd bid the librarian goodbye and exited the school building. Perhaps this was because Tamaki was still following me, eyes wide, hands outstretched in various motions of persuasion and description. I snarled quietly. Tamaki didn't hear.

"I mean, look who he is!! He's the only son of the Infamous Hitachiin Design & Co. Industry. Kyouya, even your family could benefit from his acquaintance. Well, maybe not the medical part of it, but think about it; what will your wife and your brother's wives be wearing at those fancy dinner partied? If Hitachiin's cloths are as 'hot topic' as the stats say they are, there's no reason that all the influential women will be buying from them." Occasionally, the blond had his moments. This was one of them. "Perhaps even Haruhi will wear them, too, once the two of us are married!!" I rolled my eyes, Tamaki was back on his normal line of thinking with a renewed vigor.

Together, we walked towards the round about drive way where most students were picked up by their chauffeurs and showed home. Today, as it was Wednesday, Tamaki would be accompanying my to my house for our ritual study session. Or more of, my study session and Tamaki's talking time. I don't know how else to put it; that analogy is pretty straight forward in the fact he never shuts up.

By now the drive way was partially empty, save for a few students milling around their cars and friends, engaging in normal teenaged activities…Actually, I guess that depends your definition of normal. Swapping stories of their parent's success and whatnot…what an odd world this school provided. Against my better judgment, I found my attention being drawn to thoughts along the line of 'I wonder how Kaoru's doing adjusting'. I was loosing it.

Tamaki leaned over the curb, as if attempting to see my limo as the last of the chattering students were driven away. The sleek, black car was nowhere to be seen; this did not go towards bettering my mood.

"Kyouya!!!" Tamaki whined. I wanted to wring his neck when he talked like that. "Kyouya, the car's late!"

"What do you want me to do about that, Tamaki?" I asked, my voice holding just a slight undertone of annoyance or anger. The blond pouted.

"I don't know…But isn't your driver known for being on time? What if something's wrong or someone got hurt!!!! OH GOD, KYOUYA!!! HE COULD BE DEAD!!!!"

Tamaki wailed quite loudly then, and I was forced to clamp a hand over his mouth the keep from attracting attention. The blond continued to blubber nonsense into my palm and, vaguely, I entertained the metaphor 'eating out of the palm of his hand', but my attention was immediately distracted as another voice sounded from behind us.

"If you want, you can borrow my phone and call." A voice I knew. My teeth gritted of their own accord and Tamaki beamed. "My ride's not here, either. If you need to, you two can ride with me."

Kaoru was standing there, his arm extended with a bright blue cell phone held out towards myself and the blond, who was currently bubbling excitedly. He knows that he'll get to badger the redhead if we ride home with him; he actually thinks that that will make the Hitachiin want to be friends? What a stupid boy. I had to beat him to the punch.

"No. No thank y—"

"YES!!! Yes please!!!" I glared at the blond. What did Tamaki think to be gaining in this? Help a poor deranged soul who needed something a lot more than a blond upperclassmen to comfort him? "We would love to use your phone. And—and, if Kyouya's cabby can't come to get us, then we'd love to come home with you!!!"

I felt my left eye twitch involuntarily as Kaoru nodded, his hair flopping casually into his eyes. He handed the phone to Tamaki and the blond exaggeratedly flapped the mechanical communication device in my face. Aggravated, I grabbed the cell phone and—flippantly—opened it and began to dial the number of my driver. Over the mechanical rings, I could clearly hear Tamaki conversing with the owner of said cell phone.

"So, where are you from!?!? I am rather familiar with the company—" _A lie_, I thought. "—but I do have to ask; why are you only joining our wondrous program here at Ouran now? I'm sure you could have joined earlier!! You're mother's a fashion designer, no?"

"Yes, but—"

"And your father travels abroad, right?"

"Yes, but—"

"And you are the only heir to the family business, right?"

No response, yet Tamaki continued right on talking.

"Well, I'm an only child too. Kyouya isn't, but he's the youngest! It's funny, isn't it!!! We're all the youngest!!"

Kaoru raised an eyebrow, almost as if it pained him. "Uh…sure?"

On the other end of the telephone line, an automated voice sounded, informing me that my driver had failed to answer his cell phone. Disgruntled, I snapped the receiver closed and held the cellular out to the red head, who pocketed it. Tamaki turned towards me and bounced happily.

"Does this mean that we're going to get a chance to ride home with our new friend?" He asked excitedly.

Sighing, I nodded.

What did I have against the boy, anyways? It wasn't as if he'd hurt me; I never gave him the chance to get close enough to hurt me. But perhaps he had gotten closer without my permission.

I shook my head and casually climbed into the limo that pulled up just as Tamaki asked if he could hug Kaoru. This provided a casual escape for the red head, but unfortunately, it saddled me in the middle (Kaoru really must be desperate not to be hugged by Tamaki…) and the blond splayed across my lap.

I was irritated, to say the least. I think that Tamaki prematurely figured that the two of them would soon be as thick as thieves, and who knows. Too many elements were left up to chance: Kaoru's sanity, Tamaki's perseverance, my own tolerance of the situation. It was only a matter of time before I lost patience with the situation and blew up in one or the other's face.

In all honesty, it shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did. Just last night, hadn't I made a pack with myself to befriend Kaoru and use him? Wring him like a soggy sponge for all the secrets he possessed and then throw him away, no matter how bad that sounded? I mean, as a child from a family as prestigious as mine, I do not make promises—weather to others or just to myself—and then break them. I guess all I would have to do is follow Tamaki's lead and act as if nothing had ever happened in the hospital…Simple enough…

"Do either of you two mind if you're a little late getting home?" It was the first question the Hitachiin had asked, and before I could casually say that we would not, Tamaki jumped across me with generally the same words, just more enthused.

Kaoru nodded, and told his driver to take them home—meaning his own estate—first, then relaying directions to my own mansion, via Tamaki. I just sat there, slightly brooding, yet appearing cool and calculated as ever. My mask was perfect.

The Hitachiin Estate was much grander than I had expected, even if what I had expected was a large padded room with paint on the walls. It had an expansive garden, equally impressive rose beds and a fine carved stone walk way that appeared to be blue, grey and silver at the same time and in the same light. The exterior of the house was painted a very slight off white that accented the gardens nicely, setting the ivied trellises against a lighter background with cool, yet sharp contrast. It was an impressive house…

The door slammed and Tamaki jumped. I had been no less startled than him by the red head's sudden departure, but I had better masked my start and settled for leaning across Tamaki towards the window that showed the front of the estate. I saw a middle aged woman with brightly accented highlights and a flaring yellow scarf wrapped tightly over her light brown power suit. Kaoru's mother?

"Kaoru!" She greeted brightly, sweeping him into her arms—much the same way she had sum years ago in the hospital—and exchanging a rather one-sided cheek bump with her son. "Oh, my son. How was you day? Did you have fun? Oh, and who are those hansom boys in the car."

At this distance, I couldn't hear what Kaoru's reply was, but from his mother's response, I could gander a guess.

"And Ootori and a Souh? Oh Kaoru, you're already made such lovely friends!!! Come on, why not invite them in for some tea or a bite to eat? Don't be shy boys," this statement she directed to us—Tamaki and I. "Come in!! I won't bite."

We complied. My father could not complain about me furthering our family interests in a new family, even if I was late for a meeting, and Tamaki was already set, for he wasn't expected to return until later.

Closing the car doors, we began our seemingly long walk towards the two red heads that stood at the other end of the walk. As Tamaki and I approached, we could hear Kaoru quietly talking with his mother, seemingly thinking that we were both out of ear shot.

"Mother, I was just going to have the driver take them home. There's no need to invite them in for something to drink…"

He spoke so quietly and so little that it was hard to believe he had spoken at all. Tamaki wrinkled his eyebrows and looked at me; I stared back, just as confused by the woman's odd behavior. It was obvious her son didn't want us here, yet she insisted we join her for tea? Either way, we accepted.

The inside of the Hitachiin estate was just as grand and splendid as the outside, yet slightly less so than my own. Whatever the walls lost in decoration points, it certainly made up for in the homey and exotic feel of the place. Heavy Persian carpets lined the floors, wall to wall and in a bright array of twisting oranges, teal blues and complimenting off white. Several large pieces of mahogany wood furniture that seemed to have once belonged to a set lined the walls, along with two bright yellow and leather looking sofas and six glass plated coffee tables.

It was a very bright and colorful display; one that sent Tamaki reeling backwards upon first sight and crashing into a door frame. He now stood, head in hands and eyes closed in apparent dismay and discomfort.

I myself, paid the act no attention, being used to the blond's antics. But Kaoru and the Hitachiin matriarch seemed shock, almost scared and wary, of what was wrong with the other boy, so I took it upon myself to lazily explain. "Oh, he does this all the time," I assured them. "It's just one of his regular mannerism."

Behind me, Tamaki moaned lowly and collapsed onto a couch. I always knew that he'd dies from head trauma.

"Uh…okay!" The older woman replied, equally happy, but now with a hint of insecurity in her voice. It was barely noticeable, but to the trained ear, it was a song in a quiet room. "Well, boys, how do you take your tea? Or we have coffee if you'd prefer. I'm afraid I cannot offer you anything stronger , but have your parents come over some time for a glass or something."

She was a business woman, I noted. She was doing her part to further relationships in either mine or Tamaki's families, and doing a damn good job of not being overly obvious about it…Kudos to her.

"Tea would be just fine," I told her. All I had to do was play along, and essentially, the older Hitachiin would be playing right into my hands.

Smiling, the woman unwrapped her scarf and hung it over the back of her armchair before she herself sat down. Off to the side, Kaoru moved slightly, and attracted my attention, but it was only to fix the scarf, which had a crease in it that was keeping it from folding neatly. I frowned.

"And you, dear?" I head her asking Tamaki. Her only response was a low groan. "Uh…would you like an ice pack or something? We have some Advil if that'll make you feel better."

She stood, unbayed, and went to fetch the medicine, leaving me along with Kaoru for the first time in…years? Well, almost alone, if you don't count an incapacitated Tamaki, which I didn't. The blond killed more brain cells every day, so why would this day be any different?

Kaoru shifted across from me on the matching yellow sofa. I raised an eyebrow, almost as if mimicking me. I frowned, he did the same. What was this? Some twisted game of Mirror? Were we to play this charade until one of us messed up? Did he want to test me?

Or perhaps I was over thinking the simple gestures. I used them enough, so what made me so sure that no one else did? But, it was still pissing me off.

"I noticed you have an extensive medical knowledge," I commented off handedly. Compliments. Subtle flattery was always a good opening point for a conversation. Start off gradually and watch the snowball effect as the other eventually couldn't stop talking. It had worked on Tamaki.

Kaoru shrugged. His eyes glinted. "There's nothing to do but read most of the time…"

I nodded slowly. Commiserations. The best way to form a sort of relationship. "Yeah," I said, placing the perfect amount of emphasis on each letter. It was amazing how many hours in front of the mirror it took to specialize saying this one word, but the results it got when used were also amazing. "I know; studies can get tedious after a while."

A nod. My nod from before, really. I didn't comment.

When the red head offered no more conversation material, then I took the initiative and began to talk again. "I've always liked the idea of a medical career. I guess it's safe to say that it's always seemed like the best idea, but I only ever consider it because of my family's business."

"That's cool; you'd be good at it." His monotone was really starting to bother me. It was neutral. It was my tone.

"Thank you. And I assume that you're going to be preceding your mother's career?"

A subtle nod. "Yeah; I kinda have to, don't I?"

"Of course," I smoothly continue, glassing over the vague, vague mention of his brother. If there was any connection to the two of them in that last sentence, if was the tone. A slightly deviated monotone! I was breaking him; soon his secrets would be spilling out like liquefied bubble gum. "Are you happy about that? I guess you've grown up around fashion all your life, haven't you?"

He shrugged slightly, a small smile twitching his lips. "I guess that depends on what your definition of fashion is, Ootori. I grew up with my mother as a fashion designer and she taught me the trade, yes."

I nodded. He was still giving me simpleton answers; those that I already know, or already pieced together. What a waste of time.

"That's interesting," I remark. "Personally, I didn't learn the trade from my father or my mother. They were both too busy teaching by brothers and sister how to manipulate the other businesses. They didn't have time for me."

What was I doing?!?!? What was that!?!?! Not only had I never started a sentence with 'personally' and had it follow with something actually personal, but I had never admitted that my parent were more interested in my siblings than me. I'd not even ever admitted that to myself.

"I'm sorry," I hear Kaoru say. He sounds genuinely so, so I allow this assurance that he is not aware that anything was amiss by me admitting that wash over my frame. At least…if he was aware that something was wrong, he was being a damn good actor about hiding it.

"It's nothing really; I don't even really feel the pain anymore. I don't think it'll ever really hurt, seeing as how I don't let anyone get close to me anymore. Not even yo—"

"I found the Advil!!" Saved. Had Mrs. Hitachiin not just walked into her living room with the blue and white bottle of pain meds, I might have admitted that…that I didn't want Kaoru close to me?

That was scandalous and embarrassing in more ways that one. Too many ways to count, actually. Far too many.

What a close save. But as I felt Kaoru's eyes on me as I walked out of his living room, supporting a somewhat recovered Tamaki in my arms, I felt that he had caught it. Caught my slip up.

"Kyouya?" Tamaki asked as we entered the limo that had—finally—arrived to take us home. "Why were you talking so much to the Hitachiin boy? You talked to him more than you did to me…"

I felt my stomach drop out of my body. Tamaki had noticed? The usually oblivious blond had heard me talking and pieced together the puzzle to figure out that I liked the red he—NO!! No, I do not!!

"What are you talking about?" I asked him casually, playing it safe and seeing how much he actually knew before digging my own grave deeper around me.

"You were talking to him about your family and your home life…and it was kind of one sided; you did most of the talking."

"I did no—" I froze. I had. I had spoken more and more about myself than he had!! I had admitted things that I shouldn't have and in exchange for no information about him except already known facts. I had…I had disclosed emotion problems that I had not even been aware of and this could only lead me to one result.

That sneaky, conniving red head had managed to switch my sharpened personality and conversational skills back on me to fit his own personal needs and satisfactions.

This could only mean one thing; this boy was better than me. And there was no way for there to be two Shadow Kings. One of us had to go down and, as of that moment…the battle was on. I knew it and I figured he did, too.

This meant war.

**XD The note was just something I wrote for myself and I figured it would be pretty funny to include...Anywas, Tamaki and Kyouya met Kaoru's mom. Nothing really significant, but I'm thinking about playing off that in future...What do you guys think? Reviews are always welcome.**

NOTE: Kyouya keeps talking, Kaoru's mother comes in just before something embarrassing is admitted, Tamaki asks why Kyouya was talking so much and Kyouya figures that the conversational skills he'd practiced had been reversed on him, he wonder's how Kaoru did it and vows that this is war!!! He won't stop until Kaoru is smooched, trampled, maimed (ect.) and his dignity regain, The only question is how to keep it hidden so no one suspects him of anything.


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

I did not see the Hitachiin for three days after that excursion to his house. Be it because we shared none of the same classes, nor did the red head join the Med. Club, or the fact we never saw each other outside of school, it didn't matter. I did see Tamaki, however, and he provided enough conversational skills for too people, so Kaoru's absence was not noticed until the three days were up and I did see him again.

It was Friday, more importantly, the day of my mother's annual birthday celebration. Everything was frantic, my father having insisted the bash be huge and epic in proportions and decorations. The presents were already piling up in the foyer, and the celebration wasn't even set to begin until seven that night, thus the guests weren't here. My mother in general was at a spa, enjoying her day and relaxing while my father was in a last minute conference and my brothers off doing who knows what. That left my sister and I to take care of all the decorations and set up and seeing as Fuyumi usually just got in the way, that more accurately left me to do all the work.

Not that I minded. Work was second nature to me by now, and I didn't really mind doing it. That was, I didn't mind it until I had to juggle Tamaki, who had showed up four hours early, and the caters, who had mixed up the food orders. My mother was allergic to brie cheese; the order said she loved it.

Tamaki bounced on the plush fainting couch while I politely—if not stiffly—corrected the order and sent the men and women back to the kitchen. My head was pounding already and the lack of sleep I had gotten last night was starting to make me wish my night time habits were better.

"Kyouya?" I heard Tamaki say from behind me.

"Yes, Tamaki?" I answered, voice harsher than necessary from the stress the day was proving to impose.

"I didn't know what to get your mother for her birthday," the blond simpered. I was slightly taken aback.

"You didn't have to get her anything, Tamaki," I pointed out, "She's not your mother."

"I know," he continued, pouting slightly and looking childish. "But she's yours and you love her, right?" I nodded. "So I figured I should get her something, at least. And because my father couldn't make it to tonight's party and my grandmother refused to go; they both told me to use my imagination and get something impressionable."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow questioningly. "And what did you get my mother, then?"

Tamaki blushed slightly, looking down and twisting his hands together. "I, uh…I…well, you see, it was rather last minute so…uh…"

I narrowed my eyes. Tamaki must have fucked up from the tone he was using. "What did you do, Tamaki?" I asked darkly. "Tell me. Now!"

"I…uh…I…."

Just then the doorbell rang, loud and strong through the foyer from the entrance hall. Gritting my teeth and preparing to deal with the stupid caterers again, I turned swiftly, leaving Tamaki to scramble after me, and stomped to the door. The bell rang again as I threw the door open and snapped, "Did you at least get the sushi this time?"

"Excuse me?"

I froze. Tamaki scooted up behind me and chuckled nervously. "Eh…he…I figured she'd like a custom fitted Hitachiin dress, and since I don't know her size…"

There stood Hitachiin Kaoru, hair illuminated from behind by the sunlight and holding a large bulk of fabric and a sewing kit that looked as if it could hold and entire sewing machine and then some. The red head shifted and blinked at me and I felt my eyes harden. Tamaki…didn't…I would kill him…

"Oh…This is your house?" I heard Kaoru ask, sounding just as surprised as I was at him being here. "Uh…I'm sorry…I figured when he ask me to come here that it was his house…Uh…I assume it's your mother the dress is for, too, right?"

I forced a calm expression and nodded slightly, side stepping to allow the boy into my house. He shifted slightly, uncomfortable and made a clumsy and undignified entrance into the main hall, the fabric snagging on the door and the sewing kit knocking into the doorframe. I bit back a laugh and turned the boy over to Tamaki.

It was a little early for phase one in my dramatic plan for running Hitachiin Kaoru into the ground, but what a better time to do so when he was on my turf and—what more—on my _home_ turf. I grinned as I clicked the door closed.

"The closet's upstairs," Tamaki bubbled excitedly, eagerly grabbing at Kaoru's sewing kit and immediately almost dropping it, only to regain his balance…on the floor. I grinned and, as casually as I could, and walked towards the two of them.

"Here," I said, a little overly sweetly, and took the kit in my own hands and began to lug it up the stairs. Not to be outdone, I heard Tamaki grab the bolt of cloth and jogging up behind me. Turning, I saw a slightly baffled Kaoru raise an eyebrow before following us.

My mother's closet was extensive. From the moment her marriage to my father had been announced, she's been showered with expensive clothing in a wide variety and style. My mother had been a noted fashion addict, even before the wedding, and I was sure that Kaoru recognized several of the older fashions from his company from when they were first in business. This dually noted and conserved into the locked storages of my memory, I set the kit down and turned to face the other two. Tamaki was dragging half of the fabric and I was sure, that if any of us were commoners, we would scold him for ruining such an expensive material. But, seeing as we weren't, we settled for ignoring him.

It was then that I noticed the color of the material.

"Mustard yellow?" I questioned dangerously. I felt, more than saw, Tamaki flinch and Kaoru cock his head to the side. "You…mustard yellow?"

There was nothing yellow in my mother's wardrobe. It was a scarce color, only seen in richest form, in gold in here. I wanted to rip Tamaki's eyebrows off. He seemed to sense this and immediately excused himself from the room. That left myself and Kaoru, who was currently perusing the dresses with much interest.

"Double hem front _and_ back? I never expected that to catch someone's eyes…And the cross stitch on this scarf is amazing…handmade, too…And the imported leather must have cost…" The red head trailed off and, grudgingly, I forced myself forward until I was standing close behind him.

Perhaps too close. Kaoru jumped and jerked, nearly dropping a bright white lace vest on the carpet. Instead of releasing the fabric, he clung to it tightly, clutching it to his chest and seemingly not caring about the pain the knuckles to rib cage must be causing him. I wanted to smirk, but instead replaced it with a sultry and oddly innocent smile.

"Is something…wrong?" I asked him casually, taking a step forward. When I moved, Kaoru moved, but in the opposite direction. He backed away from me and I knew, we just had to continue this casual game of cat and mouse until the dance was complete and he was against a wall.

"N-nothing," Kaoru protested weakly. He was looking somewhat scared and, for a split second, I wondered if my dignity was worth ruining the unstable child before me. Only for a split second, though.

"Really?" I was even closer now, and ever grateful that Tamaki had left. Adding a more feline and seductive undertone, I leaned even closer and purred, "Are you sure?"

The original plan had been to blow hot and cold. The psychiatrist must have some general grasp of what he was talking about when it came to changes in place, relationships, and emotions in unstable people, and if Kaoru wasn't unstable, no one was. Blowing hot and cold would both confuse and irritate him, while continuously engrossing me. This was a sort of game, now, and one that I wasn't willing to lose.

His back was now firmly against the wall, directly between racks of clothing and accessories and across from the double mirror. I placed a hand at the younger boy's eye level and against the wall, blocking one escape rout, but I left the other one untouched. If he was really that desperate so as to go out and away from me, let him. I was going to tease him, and I wouldn't stop him if he freaked out. In fact, that would only improve my standings.

"Listen, Hitachiin-san," I said deeply. My voice sounded strange and alien in my throat and was nothing compared to what it was in my ears. "You must have had a hard time all these years…" I felt him tense, almost as if, at this moment, he could throw me off with some strange, inhuman strength. But he didn't, for the second I felt two hands pushing against my chest; I backed up and raised one eyebrow. "And I was wondering if I could get you a cup of coffee or something. You must be parched…"

"Why would I be parched?" he asked innocently, yet snidely at the same time. "It's not exactly…_hot_ in here, is it?"

I narrowed my eyes but quickly kept myself from punching the red head in the jaw. Physical action of a negative nature was never good. I had once tried that pursuit with Tamaki, and…I was saddled with him now, wasn't I?

"Really?" I asked. How long would it take for the red head to tire of me hitting on him? "I…I didn't notice…"

I watched as his Adam's Apple bounced and I couldn't help but mirror his actions with my own. I gulped before leaning in closer—just close enough to brush my lips over the soft skin of his cheek. Kaoru didn't flinch, but I did.

Drawing back, I gazed quizzically at the shorter boy. He was staring, blank faced, at the opposite end of the closet. His mouth moved in silent words and, skilled as I am with the intellectual sense of understanding, I was able to make out the general just of what he was saying.

"StopitHikaru!Pleasepleaseplease!'.StopHikaru."

But that was just a guess…

I backed away and his mouth froze. Kaoru redirected his gaze and looked at me with wary eyes that spoke fathoms of distrust and, at the same time, trusting nature. I didn't understand it. Nor did I understand when he set to work on the fabric that still lay in it's bulk.

I had never seen anyone's fingers move that fast, not even mine across my computer key board. I had once seen a commoner magic trick where a man made a tiny foam ball multiply; he had had quick hands, too, but not fast enough to keep me from realizing that he was slipping the second foam ball in from the confines of his sleeve. However, as I watched the expanse of the fabric waver and glimmer, the quick start up of the sewing machine and the way that Kaoru's fingers cut a quick line in the fabric, obviously following some predetermined pattern, I couldn't help but feel like the children who hadn't figured out the clown's magic trick must have felt. It enthralled me.

"Ne, Kyouya." Tamaki had reappeared and was now looking at me sheepishly from around the doorframe. Wearily, I waved him in. "Kyouya, your brothers are here."

"What? Already?"

"Yes."

I swore internally. They weren't supposed to be here until later, and it would only make my job that much harder if I had to watch my step while directing my mother's pary set up. Great. This was fantastic.

"Kyouya?"

"What is it, Tamaki?"

"About the dress…"

"What about the dress?" I snapped, raising one hand to clench the bridge of my nose out of frustration. Scenario after scenario involving the yellow fabric, my brothers wearing it, my father proclaiming me the heir and Kaoru and Tamaki being my brides maids swept through my mind, and I groaned outwardly. I needed more sleep.

"It's…" Tamaki's breath caught in his throat, causing me to pause in my anguish and turn. "Beau—"

"Finished." Kaoru announced. I gaped.

Twenty-seven minutes alone with me, and Hitachiin Kaoru had finished a masterpiece, making that ugly color of yellow into a silken dress that looked fit for a que—No. I shall not give him the satisfaction of a compliment, even if it is simply internal.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the blond bounded past me and the red head narrowly avoid being enveloped into a hug. I stood there and contemplated it. I could not see the extra foam ball up his sleeve and it irked me. I couldn't…figure him out.

I resurfaced from my mental tirade in time to hear Tamaki, over excited, blandly state, "—Why don't you stay for the party? You could be my guest! I know most people are bringing their girlfriends, wives, husbands and boyfriends, but you and I can be that acceptation! You and I shall be guests at—"

"—No." I cut across, causing Tamaki to deflate mid-sentence and Kaoru to turn his shining and blank eyes towards me. I shrugged, secretly grateful that I did not have a pencil in my hand to snap; that would display how pissed off I was at that moment. I couldn't figure him out. "We don't have enough wiggle room to worm one more person in," I told the two of them.

Slowly, tears filled in Tamaki's eyes and he began to pout and blubber incoherently. However, the Hitachiin seemed relieved. With a muttered "thanks, but I have things…to do…", he picked up his kit and the remaining fabric before almost shoving violently past me and down the staircase.

By this time, my best friend had reached his knees and was currently working on a patch of mushrooms. When he heard the footsteps echo down the hall, he looked up at me with sad, watery eyes and pouted. "K-Kyouya, he was just about to accept my invitation. Why—why did you--?"

"He didn't want to come, Tamaki," I glossed over. "It was written in his face. It doesn't matter anyway. I have more important things to do. Come on."

I turned on my heal and swept from the closet, my eye catching on the magnific—no, just the dress, before I walked out of it's line of sight. Wordlessly and shoulders slumped, Tamaki followed me. We exited the closet and found ourselves still in the upstairs on an open landing that spiraled down into a staircase with a clear view of the foyer. I smiled to myself; Kaoru was nowhere in sight.

And that's when I heard it. I froze.

"Here," purred the voice of my second eldest brother. At the moment, it reminded me of an animal stalking it's prey and, having finally cornered something weaker and feeble, closing in for the kill. I shook my head. Where the hell were these analogies coming from. "Let me…help you."

I groaned when I heard the responding voice. My brother sure knew how to pick the weaker prey. "N-no, I'm fine." There was the sound of the clatter of Kaoru's sewing kit before the audible _thunk_ of the bolt of cloth and the strangled breath that left the younger boy's throat as he tripped.

I heard a devious chuckle. "Obviously, you're not."

I started walking again, faster than before and reaching the bend of the staircase in no time, gazing down the steps half way to where Hitachiin Kaoru and my sibling were situated. And in…a rather interesting position, if that kind of humor got you off. Kaoru was being entirely supported by my brother, who seemed to be rather enjoying preying on weaker children than himself and thus refusing to let go of the red head even after he regained his balance, and I felt my fist clench. That's when they spotted us.

"Ah, Kyouya," my brother drawled, letting go of Kaoru's middle and allowing the boy to stand back up again. "This belong to you?"

The Hitachiin blushed and looked away from all of us, his lips parted and breathing ragged and unstable. It looked as if he were retreating to his happy place, and it was only a matter of time until he was returned to the world of 'Kaoru and me'.

"No," I said coolly, taking the steps one at a time and never breaking eye contact with my brother. I stopped walking down three steps above them, giving me the ground advantage and opening up the playing field for me to continue. "He's Tamaki's."

Cue the frantic and blubbering response of the blond to Kaoru's falls. Tamaki rushed past me and, unable to escape, Kaoru was enveloped in a tight bear hug to rival all bear hugs. I half expected Tamaki to shout something unintelligible, but he didn't. I folded my arms and tried to ignore my friend's hurried offer to help repack everything that had spilled on the steps.

"He's…" my brother raised an eyebrow casually, "A guest? I don't recall his name from the roster."

"Last minute addition," I responded coldly. "You see, he even brought a gift."

He looked around for a second, as if expecting to see it. "Where is this gift, then?"

"You'll just have to wait and see."

He glowered at me and, if we were as rudimentary as some in this world, we might have resorted to blows, but it did not come to that. Instead, I was casually brushed past as my brother retreated from the fight and I smirked triumphantly.

A pained inhale alerted my attention to the red head and blond at my feet, the latter still crushing the other's ribs. Kaoru looked up at me as if to say 'how the hell do you handle this?', but said nothing. I said nothing, as well.

"Did you mean it, Kyouya, can he really be my guest?!? Can he?!? Oh, I'd love it!!" Tamaki bubbled excitedly, pushing Kaoru and arm's length away but keeping his hands firmly attached to the boy's shoulders. "We can dance to the music, and eat the ootoro, and perhaps even try alcohol!! Doesn't that sound like fun, Kaoru?"

"But I have—"

"Wait, don't tell me, you don't have anything other than this to wear! Oh well, we can always dress you in some of Kyouya's cloths," he paused and looked up at me with hopeful puppy-dog eyes. "Right, Kyouya?"

I wanted to hit him. "Of course, Tamaki. Feel free to dress in whatever. My closet may not be as big as your's undoubtedly is, but it should do. There must be something that'll fit you."

"But I—"

"Than it's settled!" Tamaki proclaimed, his tone wild and excited. I watched as he stood and helped (more of forced) Kaoru to join him before sprinting (dragging) the red head up the stairs.

I watched them go and then, suddenly, I felt winded. So much so that I had to sit down on the steps for a second. What had I done? I just stepped in when my brother was doing exactly what I was doing earlier. It doesn't really matter who is doing it; as long as I break his physci, everything will be fine….But….why did I invite him to the party and how the hell am I going to explain it to father?

I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach and my heart plummeted. I groaned. "I'm screwed, aren't I?" I asked no one in particular.

**Whoot! Finally an update!!! Yay!!!! And evil Kyouya and crazy Kaoru come out more in this one, along with insane Tamaki! ^^ I hope this doesn't dissapoint! I had loads of fun writing this, even if I did want to stab my computer a couple times when writers block took ahold.**


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

It took me three minutes to pull myself together, and after that, I figured it was better that I kept my distance from both Tamaki and Kaoru for the next three hours that it took me to finish organizing the party. The waiters had finally gotten the orders ready, but just as I received this news, I also heard that someone had dropped a vat of boiling water on the chief's foot and that he was now out of commission. It took thirteen phone calls to get his apprentice to come and figure the entrée and the desert platters, but eventually everything was resolved.

Then, finally, as the sky began to lose it's light and the lanterns outside were lit, casting an eerie glow on the patio dinning set up, I was calm. I had done it. Not one slip up would ruin my mother's day. It was perfect.

"Kyouya!"

I sighed, but not even Tamaki could bring down my spirits. I turned to face him and immediately, the peaceful expression on my features vanished, to be replaced by a look of suspicion and annoyance. Something was missing. "Where's the Hitachiin?"

Tamaki grinned sheepishly and looked at the empty space to his side. "I, uh, left him inside. He said he needed to use the bathroom, and that I didn't have to wait—Kyouya, did I do something wrong?"

I had taken off waling in the middle of Tamaki's speech and was now striding purposefully towards the house. I had no idea where I was going, my estate had numerous bathrooms, but by some stroke of luck, I yanked open the door to the first bathroom I found and it yielded results. Or rather, I tried to yank open the door it didn't budge, and I drew my results from that.

Curiously, I pressed my ear to the door as muffled talking reached my ears. Needless to say, I couldn't hear much, but it was enough. From the bit I did head, it sounded like Kaoru…and he was talking to someone…

"…No, I told them that…I don't think they like me…Ha, no the blond one's crazy. He's so touchy feely…The brunette………..I think he hates me, and I don't even know why….I didn't—No, I didn't even ask him anything like that…"

I breathed. Kaoru was talking…to himself? I knew it! He really wasn't better! He was just pretending to be. I was about to make a motion of victory when I heard more muffled speech and pressed my attention back to the matter at hand.

"Why would I do that? You know that mother would be mad….It's not like I intentionally intent to screw myself in the business world. I have to take over the company, remember…I just can't see how it's worth having a connection within the Ootori business group if he hates me….His brother seemed to like me enough, though."

Any ounce of respect I had garnered from hears Kaoru address business like I would were depleted tenfold by mention of my brother. I growled.

"Anyway, I don't like it. I'd rather go back to the old school…Yeah, that one. It was fun, wasn't it…I know—"

"KYOUYA!"

I groaned. Inside the bathroom, Kaoru stopped talking just as I rounded on Tamaki. "What?" I snapped.

"Why are you listening at key holes?" It sounded so degrading when he said it that my temper immediately flared.

"I was not," I said darkly.

"Yes you were, I couldn't have sworn…"

The door to the bathroom opened in one swift movement and there stood the missing Hitachiin, dressed in a suit I clearly recognized as one of my own and holding a bright orange cell phone to his ear. I instantly felt thwarted and my anger flared somewhere very deep within; somewhere incredibly close to my heart and yet equally close to the plotting part of my mind.

"I'm….going….to go, now, Renge…." He said slowly, his tone much less animated as it had been within the bathroom. I raised one eyebrow and stared at him while Kaoru stared right back. "I'm sorry for calling you…I don't know when I can next…Eventually…" He closed the phone as his voice returned to monotone and his eyes glazed over.

He…hadn't been talking to a mirror?

I was saved the need to provide any explanation by Tamaki's overactive ability to jump in at the most convenient time. "Kaoru," he wailed dramatically, running forward and proceeding the pull the red head out of the doorframe. "Come on! It's time for the party to start!"

"But I—"

"Let's go!!" And with that he pulled the boy away.

I sighed. It was one of the first few times that I'd been wrong about a calculation, and it was…shocking. Would this Hitachiin boy upset everything that I had come to understand? He was certainly good at it, and it was really starting to piss me off. If I wasn't careful, than I would lose it; the same way I had with Tamaki when I'd first met him, but the chances were that Kaoru wouldn't brush it off as something simple the same way Tamaki had. But…wasn't that the point? Wasn't that the whole reason I was doing this? To screw with his mind? Then…why was I having second thoughts?

*

The party…Well, it was unexpected at the least.

My mother loved the dress, Tamaki was hyperactive as usual, Kaoru almost seemed normal and Akito continued to stare at him. It made me bristle with discomfort, for I was not the only one in my family who analyzed every aspect of someone and exploited them for their own personal gain. I wouldn't say it scared me what might befall Kaoru at the hands of my brother…No, I just didn't want anyone to get in the way while I exacted my revenge. Of that I was certain…And yet…

Ample opportunities to humiliate the Hitachiins came and went that evening, in many different forms, shapes and sizes. And I did nothing. I didn't strive to upset his company, I reasoned, and that would be the only thing I could really do in a public setting. I'd have to wait. No problem. I was good at waiting.

*

Finally, it was over. The lasts of the guests had left and now the only people remaining were my family, Tamaki and (to my distaste) Kaoru. And they showed no sign of leaving any time soon.

Fuyumi had always been rather fond of my best friend; she seemed to consider him a surrogate little brother—the more fun side of myself, if one'd please—and while my brother's weren't as open minded and frivolous with their emotions as her, they recognized a valuable family investment when they saw one. And Tamaki was defiantly that. When I attempted to subtly hint that he should go home, my sister had turned right around and offered him tea. I was annoyed, but only slightly; this was a regular occurrence, after all.

And then…there was Kaoru. He was different from Tamaki in almost every way save gender, and perhaps this is what made him so goddamn interesting to myself and everyone around him. That fact itself might have been more annoying that Tamaki's over zealous and bubby nature, but—I was certain—only to me.

"Ne, Kyouya!" I heard Tamaki exclaim bright, resting both elbows on the table that myself, he, Kaoru and Fuyumi were using for tea and leaning over the polished wood. "I was thinking…Why not start a club?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, keeping the vein in my forehead that was reserved especially for him from ticking. "We already belong to a club, Tamaki, and any other would just be a waste of time."

He was pouting now, "But this would be a fun club! An educational one that's still enjoyable!! We'd be learning to deal in business instead of medicine—and we can include Haruhi in our club!!"

By now he had garnered Fuyumi's attention as well, and she politely included herself in our conversation by saying, "My, my, my Kyouya-san…I think that's a wonderful idea." She smiled at me placidly and I wanted to groan. "Yourself and Suoh-san would make a lovely pair of presidents for a club…and you would probably garner at least a bit of attention…Ah, what type of club is it?"

All eyes turned to Tamaki, who's chest seemed to swell with pride as he announced: "A Host Club."

Silence. Somewhere in the distance a maid was singing to herself about something or another while she cleaned, but in out foyer—at our tea table—it was deathly quiet. Fuyumi looked at me and I stared coolly at Tamaki, allowing my glasses to flash in the lamp light and mask my eyes.

To my right and across from me, Kaoru shifted uncomfortably next to the blond, as if he wanted nothing more than to edge away from all this and disappear. But, unfortunately, this bit of motion caught Tamaki's attention again.

"You'll join us, right Kaoru-san?" he emplored, throwing an arm around the red head's shoulders in mass enthusiasim and still looking at my person brightly. "We could use someone with your natural charm and charisma! You'd be a great addition to our group!"

"A virtually non-existent group besides yourself and Hitachiin-san," I reminded him before inquiring lightly, "And just what exactly would we do in a Host Club?"

"Why, serve and cater to every woman's needs and wants! We provide a happy and joyful environment for them to come and frolic like little kittens in the spring and—"

"—What do we get in return?"

Tamaki blinked. "R-return?"

"Yes, as in a profit?"

"…" He had to think on that one for a second before reasoning, "The joy of making a woman happy?"

Sometimes I envied his bland and somewhat blank reasoning and philosophy of my friend, but I'd never let that fact get out. Fuyumi had been won at the words 'cater to every woman's needs and wants', but Kaoru still seemed iffy and, thus, he spoke up.

"Are we to be prostitutes of a sort, then?" he whispered, his voice sounding rough and cracked, like an old mans. I attributed this to lack of use, but he successfully passed it off as a sore throat by choosing then to take a swing of his tea.

Tamaki looked appalled. "What? I…Of course not, Kaoru! How could you say that!? I would never sell our bodies for women's pleasure! No, we are simply trying to make them happy through a totally, innocent and decent form! There will be no prostitution! In fact--!" He stood then, placing one foot on his chair in a valiant pose of defiance and glory "—Let's make an anti-prostitution club!!!"

I breathed a sigh of relief, and I knew I wasn't the only one. Perhaps Fuyumi was a little disappointed at the change of topic, for she eventually excused herself and went to bed. Tamaki continued to ramble aimlessly, and Kaoru and I listened partially, I occasionally putting in an 'oh really?' or some other put down to deflate the blond's ego, but the night seemed to generally carry on in this fashion.

Two things of interest to remember. One: The idea of a host club might, in fact, be profitable. If we charged, that is. And it has also not left Tamaki's mind. No doubt the idea will be back in due course.

And two: Hitachiin Kaoru may not talk to mirrors, people in general or even to himself, but that doesn't mean he doesn't communicate. He just uses his eyes instead.

**Whoot!~ Another update--perhaps considerably shorter than the last, but one all the same! Ain't you proud of me?!?! I am proud of me! Let's all be proud of me!! Yay!!!**


	8. Chapter Seven

**Yus, I double use Renge, but I can't help it -_-...Anyway, and update!!! Yay!!!!! With bitchy!Kyouya and slightlycrazed! Kaoru!!!! Once again--predictable, but that is why yiu all love this story, right XD**

Chapter Seven

School resumed it's course, and thus my plan began to take effect. It started with the rumors.

My title of Shadow King was not one given lightly; people came to me with their questions and theories and I had to be right—all the time. I suppose it was more of an ego trip to send them off elated and with lighter lunch money bags, but it always served as a source of pleasure. And thus, I saw my opportunity that one day, when Nekozawa Umehito asked what I knew about Hitachiin Kaoru. I smirked.

"He's a scholarship student," I said matter of factly, doing nothing more than setting my lunch tray down and setting about to eat my Set B lunch. "His parents are really poor and divorced, as well. He may have the last name Hitachiin, but it's not the same as the fashion designer. I don't understand why everyone makes that assumption."

Nekozawa dipped his head to me and slunk off, mumbling to himself and stroking his cat hand. I smirked and continued to slice my already thin flank streak. Tamaki was off doing something, so I savored my alone time—the one part of the day that I didn't have to deal with the annoying blond—and without Tamaki, Kaoru didn't even come within seven feet of me. I smirked.

"Kyouya-san," I heard a bubbly voice next to me sound. "Who's that new boy? The one you were talking to Nekozawa-senpai about?" I turned just in time to see her blush darkly. "Is he single?"

"He's gay, Suzuki-san," I told her, spotting the noticeable wilt that seemed to occur in her done up dark brown hair. "I'm sorry—he just doesn't like your sex."

"Oh…" she said, slinking away with her lunch tray and rejoining her friends with a slightly defeated stance. I watched her go, satisfied once I saw her open her mouth to her friends at the other lunch table. I smirked again, but I quickly hid it.

My steak was dry, but it tasted alright. I reached for my glass for a sip of water. When the glass was lowered, I found myself staring into a set of chocolate eyes. "Haruhi?"

With the chink of plastic on plastic, my med-club partner set her tray across from mine and slid casually down into her seat. "Kyouya-san," she greeted. "Is it true? Are you and Tamaki-senpai really going to make a new club?" Although it was generally gossip, her tone was different than the other's. She didn't sound like she wanted to really get the answer in a way that would lead to that information being spread around, but in a plainly curious way. I told her the truth.

"He is. A Host Club. I don't believe that French halfer has the smallest inclinations of what a Host Club really means," I say smoothly, keeping my voice to a minimum level. Just because I enjoyed spreading gossip didn't mean that I was keen on people who were not supposed to hear it. "I do believe he wants you to join as well."

"A host club?!" she asked, indignantly. "With me?! I honestly though I would never hear you insult Tamaki-senpai, but if he's proposing something as ugly as that, I can under stand you calling him a halfer."

We tucked in, Haruhi into her common platter, and I into my flank steak. I wouldn't call what the commoner and I had a friendship—it was more of a mutual alliance of brains in this heap of writhing infants. She and I would often study together, increasing these meetings once we found out they annoyed our dear friend, Tamaki. It was entertaining, to say the least, to watch her rebuff his comical displays of affection, and I'm sure I in turn, entertained her with my dubious duties to calm him down when she rejected him.

I smiled at the memory of one eventual night—when Tamaki had invited the both of us over to his estate for swimming and we had excused ourselves. He had later found us, Haruhi sitting on the bed in my room and I with my shirt off after my shower, and freaked out—before another tray smacked itself down onto the table. I looked up as Haruhi startled and blinked up at the new person who was joining us.

It was a girl. One who, often, would talk incessantly about fantasizes scenarios and was in the same class as Haruhi, but one who I didn't know by name.

"Is it true?!" she demanded, not even waiting for me to ask her name or anything. "Is it true that you are sleeping with that little boy? The red head? The new one!? I heard that you invited him to your mother's birthday party and took advantage of him in your dressing room?"

My eyes widened, against my will, and I saw Haruhi's do the same as she sputtered, "Renge!!" But the girl, Renge, didn't even bat an eye. She simply stared at me intensely, and I suddenly remembered. The otaku. The yaoi-loving otaku, resident Fanclub President of Ouran Academy. Crap.

"No," I told her, battling down the blush that would have risen in my cheeks otherwise. I narrowed my eyes and allowed my fork to clatter onto my plate with indignant disgust. "Why would you think that, Houshakuji-san? Do I really come off as a fa—"

"Of course not, Ootori-san!' She blew over me, voice rising in volume and screech-like quality. "It is simply the most romantic of pairings! You—taking a poor injured bird under your wing in order to nurture him back to the social health he must had ascertained at his old school! He—Hitachiin-san—is nothing more than a poor soul who needs to be taken care of, and you are the last person who would be expected to do so!!" Stars and hearts surrounded the area above her head as more and more attention was drawn to us. I, against my better judgment, wanted to sink down low in my chair and be absorbed by the floor. I settled for smacking my hand to my head.

"This is ridiculous, Renge," Haruhi assured her, but the otaku wasn't listening.

"It's so…it's so MOE!!!!!!" She suddenly cried, clutching at her heart. "I would pay to see that in action, Kyouya-san! Think of the profits. You should…you should spend more time with the Hitachiin boy for the sake of this budding relationship. Don't blow it, okay?"

And with that, she left. I stared after her, debating weather it was worth it to call my private police and have them take out Houshakuji Renge. In the end I decided against it and simply pushed my lunch tray closer to Haruhi. "I'm not hungry anymore," was the only explanation I offered to her before exiting the lunch room, one thought bouncing around the inside of my head.

_Profits…_

*

Needless to say, Tamaki was ecstatic when I agreed to his stupid club idea. He nearly fainted when I volunteered Haruhi for the job, too, setting out a wide display of eccentric proclamations of love and adoration of the both of us. Haruhi was rather displeased with me, but it was worth it. And, naturally, Tamaki asked the question I was waiting for him to.

"Does this mean we can include Kaoru into our club? It'd be like a real family then! I'll be the father, Haruhi—you can be the daughter—and Kyouya, you and Kaoru can be the sons."

"You're not my father, senpai," Haruhi objected, pushing against Tamaki's chest in an attempt to further the distance between them. I would have stepped in, but I figured she could fight him off herself. "And that doesn't make much sense. Why would Kyouya-senpai and Hitachiin-san be brothers if you and I are closer in age than them, and you're my father. The age difference doesn't make any sense. Why are you and Kyouya the fathers?"

Tamaki looked affronted, but also thoughtful. "Well…that wouldn't work! I'm taller than Kyouya, and I am the president of this club…He's only the vice president…" A look of realization crossed the blonds face and then I found myself narrowly dodging a hug from my friend. "Kyouya, you can be the mother!! And together, we can nurture our dear children out of their self composed shells and teach them to embrace life in itself! What do you say?"

I had a lot of things to say, but a majority of them were inappropriate and would deviate the plans of this club from going my way. Instead, I schooled my face to remain impassive. "Of course not, Tamaki. Call me whatever you'd like." _Go stuff it, moron. _

He clapped his hands excitedly and looked like he was ready to explode, which I would really prefer if he didn't, seeing as we were currently in the library after school. It wasn't for the fact that it would disturb other's learning; we were totally alone in here. Tamaki had gotten us access to Ouran's estate from his father, who would not deny his son many things if Tamaki claimed that they were for the learning experience. And apparently, this 'Host Club' was for the educational purpose.

Haruhi gave me a skeptical glare. "Mommy?" I shrugged back. Grin and bare it—just grin and bare it. Then you can kill him—once your desired effect takes place, you can kill him.

I forced a smile and bayed them goodnight, leaving Haruhi to deal with Tamaki's obsessive ravings about paternal instinct and the beauty of a large family.

--

---

--

The first order of many was to tell Kaoru. I left this to Tamaki, and sure enough, by the end of the next day, the red head was being toted around by our now mutual friend. I took that as his acceptance into our small group, and tried to tell myself that I was happy about this.

We scheduled our first official meeting for the following Wednesday, and it went something along the lines of:

"We need more members!" Tamaki exclaimed wildly. I looked at him; the same way that Haruhi was and Kaoru would be (if he was normal, of course). In unison. We cocked eyebrows at the blond and gave him a look that said, clear as day, 'you have got to be kidding me'. This seemed to have no effect on him.

Haruhi spoke up. "More people? Tamaki-senpai, how many other people could you want?"

"Morinozuka and Haninozuka!" He exclaimed happily. "They'd be perfect!"

I thought for a second. Haninozuka and Morinozuka, hm? Did he mean… "Takashi Morinozuka and Mitsukuni Haninozuka? The kendo and karate champions? Them? What could you possible see in them, Tamaki?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. They seem like they could use some good friends."

"Last time I checked, this was a club for the profits, not making friends. Why should we?"

Kaoru was scribbling in a school issue notebook, his knees drawn up to his chest even though we were all sitting around a table, his shins pressed against the edge of the surface in a way that couldn't be comfortable and would undoubtedly leave grooves in his skin. Every now and then, he'd glance at us and open his mouth like a fish out of water, but the other two never noticed, and Kaoru never said anything. This time, however, when he stole a glance and opened his mouth, reasonable words exited. "The short one?" he asked, attracting all of our attention. From the look on Haruhi's face, I guessed this was the first time she'd ever heard him speak. "And the t-tall one? Third years?"

"Yes!" Tamaki encouraged brightly, smiling at him in a way that made even my jaw ache. "Yes, exactly!! Them! Haninozuka is the short one, and Morinozuka is the tall one. Do you know something about them?"

The youngest of us all blinked blankly, rocking back and forth twice before looking down and drawing a long, thing, singular line through his swirls. Kaoru shook his head, before looking up. "Little one likes cake."

I paused, opening my own notebook to write that down before closing it and dipping my head. "Thank you, Hitachiin-san."

Tamaki's own 'thank you' was a little less impersonal, and, to put it simply, it looked like he was about to kiss the boy. I narrowed my eyes—such improper techniques. However, it was interesting to see Kaoru tense at the contact again, and I couldn't deny the small grin of satisfaction that spread across my lips. I couldn't wait until I could make him do that without resorting to such demeanor acts as hugging.

"Thank you, Kao-chan! Thank you very much! Perhaps we can entice him with the promises of cake and other sweets. I've never seen him eating anything confectious in the lunch room, so perhaps his weakness is self control! Thank you, Kao-chan!"

The red head now had his palms flush against Tamaki's chest, attempting to push him off and eventually succeeding. The blond's smile was not contagious, but he kept at it like it was and proceeded to stand up and begin to pack.

"Great! Wonderful! Magnificent! With this new information, we can expanse our horizons." He smiled again, the type that showed all his teeth and would charm everyone except those who were sitting in this group. "I must bid you all farewell, though, because there's a tender art to persuading those who we do not know well enough to join us here—in our budding Host Club. This calls for planning!!"

Tamaki swept his belongings into his bag and swung the pack over his shoulder, and left, waving jovially at us over his shoulder. We didn't bother to wave back, though.

"So, does this mean that I can leave without being rude?" Haruhi asked, also standing and swinging her already packed bag onto her back. "There's a sale at the supermarket, and if I get their by six, then the coupons I have will still be viable…"

"Go," I told her, my mouth getting away from me before my brain realized that this utterance would leave me alone with Kaoru. I bit back a plea for her to stay, and made to stand up as well, glancing across the table as the front room door opened and closed twice. We were alone.

Kaoru began to tap his pen on the table, before the tapping stopped and the end of the pen took up residence in the red head's mouth. His amber eyes moved with rapid quickness I'd only ever seen associated with REM (Rapid Eye Movements) over the notebook page. More scribbling sounds reached my ears as I turned around and pulled my Ouran issued jacket off of the back of my chair and slipped it on, one arm at a time.

"Ootori-sama," I could have sworn I heard, turning around only to see Kaoru. I sighed and turned to pick up my bag. "Ootori-sama," I heard again, turning again to see Kaoru ripping the page from his book and turning it upside down.

Again, I rode it off as nothing. If the Hitachiin wanted to talk to me, he could do it when I was actually facing him. I had no qualms about leaving the boy alone in this room, so I swept past him, only pausing when I heard, "Ootori-sama" for the third time and found myself looking back into amber eyes when I looked around again.

"What?" I spat with unintentional ferocity. Kaoru blinked.

"Here." He said, holding out the notebook sheet, folded neatly into quarters. I wouldn't say I was curious, but with a certain type of suspicion, I extended a hand and took the paper. With his "gift" given, Kaoru stood and left, not pausing to pick up the bag he hadn't brought, or make an excuse he didn't need to, nor to put on the jacket he was already wearing, closing the door behind him.

I opened the paper and found myself looking at a bunch of wavy lines, some criss-crossed and some diagonal—another couple horizontal and vertical with perfection etched in their lines. It looked like a stupid child's drawing, the kind they gave to their parents just to see if they were lying when the adults would say "beautiful" or something of the sorts. I rolled my eyes, unhinging the mask that kept my disgust with him at bay now that I was no longer around personnel.

"What the—" and then I saw the part of the puzzle.

I flipped the paper open, so that the drawings were reversed, and the picture was as clear as day. There, somewhere between the lines and scribbled, a image that was completely indistinguishable the other way around, was a shady stick figure—actually two, holding hands and standing a certain distance from another one with large, round glasses situated upon his oval head and holding a black square. I knew, immediately, who the people in this otherwise pointless drawing were.

"Funny," I informed the empty room. "I figured he'd forgotten me from back then."

**Like? love? Please drop a review (I promise I'll catch it) and let me know!**


	9. Chapter Eight

**OMG!!! AN update when I'm so sick that the world appears green and orange, and my mouth is half numb after visiting the dentist--who had to sick me five times with the needle!!! I feel like I deserve cookies!! But, I'd love reviews even more!~**

Chapter Eight

I don't know why or even if I believed it when Tamaki told me that he had won over Haninozuka, and with him, Morinozuka. It was a shock, for sure, but I think my lack of reaction was a more interesting expression to display, especially once I saw what his reaction to that would be. Haruhi congratulated him when she heard, and smiled and waved warmly to the two third years when we passed them in the hallway. It was then that I noticed we were short one person in these early hours of pre-school meandering and gossiping. However, I decided to simply not point it out myself.

I waited for Haruhi or Tamaki to noticed that Kaoru wasn't there, but neither of them seemed to take note of this fact. It was almost time for us to part ways, and if we did, I would probably lose track of my target—and a lot good my careful and strategic planning would do if that happened. Gently, I prodded, "It's almost time for the first bell—" which prompted both the short brunette and the taller blond to glance up at the nearest clock "—shouldn't we all be getting to our classrooms?"

"Ah, yes! Where has the time gone! We must part so soon! A tragedy among men and women alike!!" Tamaki made to hug Haruhi, and for a spilt second it looked like she was going to, but she then decided against it and held out her arms, stopping him. I could have laughed out loud, and I did allow myself a small chuckle of amusement.

"Well, I'll see you both later—Tamaki, get off of me," was Haruhi's classical farewell before she dumped the blond on me and made for her class. We (that is to say Tamaki) watched her go longingly before turning to me and smiling idiotically.

"We should go, too, Tamaki," I told him, grasping him by the shoulder and steering him away from the first year classrooms and into the entirely separate part of the building used for the second years. "Class will be starting soon, idiot. There's no reason to stand there gawking after her…Rumors might fly…"

He continued to stare like a blundering idiot after her, but followed me when and where I pulled. I felt ridiculous, pulling my little lost puppy in my gait, but it was the only reasonable way I could transport him. Calling in my army of pick-up trucks and cranes might cause a little too much of a commotion. So I settled for manhandling the blond, although I think I was the only one who really minded. And I REALLY minded when he started blubbering nonsense.

"Kyouya…" there was a dreamy quality in his voice that I had learned to dread. "Do you think that Haruhi is…pretty?"

I did not slow my pace. "She is the uncultured mutt in a kennel of pedigree dogs. But I'm sure, to you at least, that she holds at least one alluring quality. Why do you ask?" My question seemed to jerk him back to earth (a place he had vacated long ago) and sent a rush of blood to his face, heating his cheeks.

"No reason."

"Good. Now, to class." And we walked into class 2-A.

*

Kaoru was not there at lunch, either. I was not worried—that emotion did not even exist in my inventory. Worry leads to irrational thoughts, and seeing as I had all my wits around me, I was never worried. I was simply…inpatient. So I settled for doing what inpatient people do: making everyone else inpatient.

I tapped my foot rhythmically on the linoleum floor of cafeteria, and in no time, Tamaki had picked up the beat as well. The more he was tapping, the more hassled and hysteric his expression became. He in turn, drummed his fingers on the table. Haruhi picked up the mannerism in her own form, by tapping her plastic spork on the plate and grinding her teeth. Some very smart people had the general wits about them to not come any closer to us, and made a point to give us a wide birth. Much appreciated.

This continued for a while until Haruhi finally cracked. I wouldn't have pegged her for the type to explode, but then again, I often did forget that she angered easily. Our audacious commoner student stood up, taking her tray with her and walking away from us, quickly taking up a seat next to Renge, that maniacal otaku with her ridiculous notions of love. That left myself and Tamaki, and I figured that I should probably stop portraying my relentless attitude before he, too, left. I stayed my foot, and slowly, out atmosphere was near pleasant again.

"Kyouya, do you think we should recruit one more person?"

"For what?" I asked.

"For the Host Club. I think six being an even number gives the girls too much of an opportunity to see even relationship between us. After what that Renge girl said, I think it's better if there are no defined relationships that are set in stone. And if we have an uneven number of people, perhaps there won't be any need to state that there aren't any relationships…"

It was one of his rare moments of excellent intelligence. I rolled my eyes anyway, and swallowed the food I had consumed during Tamaki's rant. "It won't matter if there's an even or uneven number of people. Apparently, the more harem the acts, the more beloved. Perhaps that would work if we were trying to entice a crowed different from the Renge type, but seeing as we aren't, there's no reason. And who would you recruit, anyway?"

He shrugged and mumbled something about it being "just a though".

"We could always just cut down the one person—make it five instead of six," I said offhandedly. "Perhaps we could simply not use the Hitachiin boy. He seems rather distant, don't you think. He wouldn't really enhance our customer service, would he." Tamaki nodded slowly, biting his lip and staring at his mashed potatos with unnerving concentration.

Thinking the conversation was over, I made to stand and dispose of my tray, only to pause in my footsteps when Tamaki continued, "It just feels like something's missing…"

"You mean beside the Hitachiin boy?"

"Yes, besides him. It's like…I think something's missing with Kaoru and there might be a way to fix it by making friends with him." He turned those wide violet eyes on me with implored understanding. "You get it, right Kyouya? There's just something…not there…?"

I sighed. But he was right, and I had to reward him with recondition. I nodded.

*

I found out where Kaoru had gone the next day, by the rather impersonal means of the newspaper. I sat at the breakfast table, silent as usual, and reading my copy of the international news as my father, brothers and sister did the same. That was the equivalent of our morning routine, only this one was rather disrupted when I gagged on my coffee. All eyes at the table turned to me, some with annoyance, some with concern and others with indifference. Eyebrows cocked, lips pursed, and my sister asked me if I was alright.

All I could do was muster a nod and cough into my napkin, eyes still firmly attached to the page of the paper that was now peppered with dark brown liquid stains. A maid fluttered forward and asked, hesitantly, if I would like for the paper to be disposed of.

"No," I told her politely. "No thank you. I'm not finished."

"Would you like a different copy, Ootori-sama?" she tried again. "We could find you one—"

"No thank you, this will do." It would take too long to find another copy of this paper, and I had to find out exactly what happened _now_. The headline had intrigued me…

**Hitachiin Family Suffers Great Lose After Ten Years of Misery; Funeral Set for Tomorrow**

_Some ten years ago, a tragic event befell the infamous Hitachiin family. On an unfortunate day, the elder of the Hitachiin twins fell to his doom after scaling a tall tree. The emergency ride to the hospital and first class care could do nothing to better his situation—although the boy continued to breath, he was clinically brain dead and had no chance of waking up. Just yesterday, the family decided enough was enough and decided to forfeit life support in favor of a nice, clean and dignified death for their boy. The only member that was disgruntled with the decision was the younger twin, Hitachiin Kaoru. His mental state, always iffy, dissolved into tears and complained loudly, eventually having to be forcibly removed from the hospital room so the procedure could commence. His current state is unknown._

_Although the funeral is going to be a private, family event, the event is rumored to be invitation only, with a select few families attending. It is a shock to most who are receiving the invitations—many of them had little to no idea that the Hitachiins had a son, let alone two. The press is hoping to get several reporters inside the event, and are eager for any pictures of the coffin…(Cont. p.p. 2D)_

Inside, I felt my insides squirm. Delight, one could call this feeling. Delight and wonderful ideas traveling through my head. It was finished—_he_ was finished—and I didn't even have to do anything. The press had done the job for me. Now, the only job left was to tell them my side of the story—his mental break down and his speech impediment—and the girls would lap it up as fast as one could say 'outcast'. He'd be finished and, as I lowered the paper from in front of me, I could feel my fingers and hands shaking with excitement.

Quickly, I excused myself from the table and retired to my room to ready myself for school. I was so excited that I could barely differentiate between my school uniform and my casual wear. My shoes almost adorned the wrong foot—with two different styles as well, but I was finally able to get out of the house looking decent, except for the large and silly grin on that was slightly scary and entirely inexplicable. My chaffer gave me a slightly odd look, yet I was too distracted to even tell him off.

I had won. Embarrassing the Hitachiin had occurred, and I hadn't even do much more than lift a finger. The press had done it for me, and now I was going to reap the rewards. I'd won, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

*

I was wrong. It shocked me, although not entirely surprising. Instead of attracting the murmuring mass of people I had been expecting to flock around him, the story simply attracted...Sympathy.

Yes, sympathy. Swooning girls who would pass him and blink at him with apologetic goo-goo eyes. Classmates and upperclassmen who would shake his hand and offer their condolences. Teachers who would perhaps glance sadly at him when they thought no one was looking in the hallways, or else actually approach him and place their hand on his shoulder. I wanted to be sick. All that excitement, all that antsy, and then it had proven to be nothing; my grand plan hadn't worked.

Of course, the mere sympathetic gestures that Kaoru's stranger classmates gave him were nothing compared to Tamaki. He cried out praises for the Hitachiin twin he had never met, causing quite an uproar and several students joining in with him. The blond, upon site of the red head, would "glomp" him, as the fangirls would often say, and refuse to let go until the boy either turned blue, or Haruhi beat him off. To the side, I scowled darkly, emitting the aura that clearly told everyone in the vicinity to back off or I would hurt them.

Why weren't they backing away from him? That trash article had even stated that he had an unknown mental condition and had thrown a tantrum over his twin's lifeless body when they tried to cease life-support. The girls should have been backing away from him, afraid that he might lash out at one of them; but, no! They were muttering about the 'beautiful brotherly love' and fantasizing about what it must have looked like. The boys should be cat calling and jeering at him; but they, too, we speaking of his devotion and their own relationships with their older or younger brothers. It had all gone to hell.

"Kyouya?" Tamaki asked as he waltzed into the classroom, placing his book bag onto his desk and turning to look at me. "Kyouya, are you alright? You look…pained."

"I'm fine," I ground out, roughly turning the pages of my textbook so harshly that it tore under my fingers.

"You don't look it," he said, voice lowering and shoulders hunching shyly away from me. "Are you feeling sick? You could go to nurse if you'd like. I'll tell sensei."

At the time, perhaps I thought it would be a good idea. Get away from the discomfort, get away from the bad way that the scheme had taken. Reconstruct the plan, revisit my ideas… I stood, closing my book and slipping it into my bag before swinging it over my shoulder. "Alright, I'll go." My brain was fussing, but I had enough sense to explain where and why I was going as the teacher entered to room in time to see him make the escape. Knowing by heart my immaculate record, she paid no heed to it and simply nodded before turning to the rest of the class as the door swung shut behind me.

The nurse, I reminded myself. Go there.

I don't know what came over me.

Instead of taking the left that would take me to the many bedded hospital section of the school, I allowed my feet to carry me to the right, towards the front door—the door to the outside world. I don't know why I did it, nor how I managed to do so without getting caught, but before I knew it, my fingers were wrapping around the door handle that would twist effortlessly in order to open.

I was just about to exit the building when I heard a clatter and hurried footsteps rushing down the stairs before something warm and cloth covered collided with my back when I was too slow to turn around and face the runner. Panting and my front was pushed against the door, the metal frame of my glasses bending as hands roughly used my back as a spring boarded and soon enough, I found myself turning to face Hitachiin Kaoru.

His face was flushed and eyes harried as some voices around the corner of the entrance hall called, "Hitachiin-san?" or "Kaoru-kun? It's alright! We just wanted say that we're sorry for your lose!" or "Wait! Don't run! Don't you want some of these chocolates?" There were at least three of them, if not more, and the second that I heard these voices, I knew the source of Kaoru's torment.

Panicking, he turned back to me and tried for the door again. "Hurry up," he whined lowly, eyes darting everywhere. "Please. Either come with me or don't tell them which way I went. Please."

I didn't move. He glanced back and towards the door again, rattling one of the knobs to the doors that were locked. Only half the doors were left unlocked, and it seemed that Kaoru had yet to learn this. He was a fast learner though, for I watched him leave that door and both push and pull me out of the way before dragging me pull through the frame and after him, down the side of the driveway and through the actual bars of the front gate before the man in the operating booth could jump off his backside and stop them. I was somewhat surprised that the two of them could actually fit through the iron painted golden bars that all the cars had to pause before entering the school grounds, but we both did, and continued running.

We ran—or rather, he ran and dragged my body after him. I never pegged the Hitachiin as a strong boy, nor one with much running stamina, but he continued to run and I, unaffected by this and continuously dumbstruck, followed. I did not recognize the path we were taking, and I'm sure that he didn't either, but the constant and hopefully purposeful pounding of our feet lead me to believe that there was some impromptu ending to this fast tracked race.

And sure enough, there was. It was, to all appearances, a commoner's park. A busy one. Children screamed with delight and excitement, demanding that their parents push them higher on swings, or else catch them at the bottom of slides. A boxy white care with colorful pictures of what appeared to be mass-produced popsicles and ice cream sandwiches on the side ground out a tinny tune as a steady stream of adults and children flocked to the open door, handing out money for confections. A little girl in a pale purple dress stood in the sandbox, smiling brightly at a group of boys before proceeding to pull her skirt over her head and reveal bright pink underwear. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"What are we doing here!?!" I demanded, rounding on Kaoru before realizing that he was still holding my hand and wrenching it from his grasp. "What gives you the right to drag me out of school and to this hovel!?"

My voice was laced with icy contempt and dripped with disgust. I felt a vague sense of satisfaction when he recoiled, folding his arms tightly and laying both hands on opposite shoulders. Amber eyes were suddenly hidden from view as he flopped his bangs into his face, and his chapped lips parted to murmur, "I'm sorry…I was just trying to get away."

"Away," I sneered. "Away from what? Those girls weren't going to hurt you."

"I didn't like it," he said defensively. "I didn't want them to follow me, but they did, so I just wanted to leave." Kaoru peaked at me from under his fringe shyly. "I'm sorry for taking you with me, Ootori-sama. I didn't mean to—but you were just there."

Something about the way he said it rendered me speechless. I would have liked to say something scathing and cold, but the words wouldn't flow to my mouth unhindered and thus, incomplete sentences mixed with swear words flowed. I tried several times, opening and closing my mouth, gnashing my teeth and pacing away from him. I really would have nothing to do have with him, just up and leave him in this park and go back to school, but that would completely destroy the entire reason I had been intending to leave the place for in the first place. And then it struck me.

We, me and the Hitachiin, were playing hooky. We were skipping. Cutting class. Escaping the confines of the school atmosphere. And we were together in this.

I hated it.

"Look," I said, running a hand haphazardly through my hair as the pink underwear girl's mother screeched and ran over to her daughter, lifting her by the waist and carrying the giggly girl out of the park. "Look, I don't care about why you ran out, and I don't want to know. What I do want to know is where the hell we are."

He blinked, looking towards the park entrance, painting towards a sign with large, white painted letters. "Suzuki Ira Memorial Park. It's downtown, I think." He looked back to me. "Are you going to leave?"

I wanted to tell him yes. I wanted to tell him to fuck off and then storm out the park, leave him alone and not care what happened to him. But I couldn't. What else could I do? My gaze scanned the entire play ground, alighting upon a partially empty bench who's only other occupant was a quietly crying little boy, and this is where I crossed to and sat down, spying another girl flashing the boys in the sandbox.

I turn my attention elsewhere, keeping my eyes averted to somewhere over the boy's head when Kaoru sits next to me. I startle when I feel his fingers brush my stomach, grasping at the front buttons of my Ouran jacket. I am about to yell and hit him when he murmurs, "You look too conspicuous—we both look like truants. Just take off your blazer."

I hate to admit that he's right, but there is no reason that I will let him undress me. Slapping his hands away before stripping myself of the suddenly hot jacket, folding it and slipping it into my bag; Kaoru did the same, but he also pulled off his dress shirt and put them both into his bag, extracting a light blue sweatshirt to put over his undershirt and clipping two barrettes into his right hand part. I wondered why he kept this different look until after school, but I didn't ask. It was individuality, I supposed. A sort of individuality that I wanted to squash.

We watched a girl who seemed to be seven and wearing a brightly colored shirt like half of the kids in the park did, advertising a sort of kindercare organization, swing herself upside down on the monkey bar and allow her light brown pigtails to swing dangerously below her. Two little babies dressed in army fatigue pants and jackets playing on the teeter-totter with enthusiasm that was unprecedented.

I couldn't remember when I had had fun like that, for I never though that I had been at a commoner's park when I was a child. I played with the nurses, as did Tamaki and almost every other student in the entire Ouran school. Perhaps Haruhi had, but she never talked about it and seems to practical to enjoy this chaos enough to do it on a regular basis. I found my cold scowl disappear, but I did not smile. This was not fun.

Kaoru fidgeted next to me, pulling one leg up to his chest and leaning backwards, leaving his bag under the bench. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see him looking at me consciously, almost sadly and sorrowful, like he'd some something wrong. I tried to remind myself that he had, but I didn't find myself mad. Mainly just annoyed that I was here, instead of somewhere in my element. Next to us, the little boy continued to cry remorselessly.

We were completely still for a second, neither of us moving and barely even breathing, but then I felt Kaoru move. I'm not sure how, considering there was a good six inches of space between us, but I felt it. He stood, and turning my head I gave a glare must have demanded, 'Just where do you think you're going?' because he shuffled and pointed, indicating the ice cream truck.

"You brought money?" I asked, "Why not just call a cab, then? We wouldn't have to be here. We could be some place much more refined to our tastes."

"Like school?" he asked, silencing my statement and going over to the truck. I stared, glowering, after him, allowing my gaze to bore holes in the back of his head with all their might, but Kaoru didn't seem to notice. He forced a smile at the man inside the truck window, one that was visibly painful even from my perch, paid and accepted two bright blue popsicles before returning.

In a flash, there was some sort of icy blue confection thrust into my hands, and I nearly dropped the thing right then and there, but I was miraculously able to gather my bearings and simply hold it by the end that was a cheap wooden stick, instead. I glowered, murmuring a 'thanks' under my breath before averting my eyes from the Hitachiin when he unwrapped his own treat.

I didn't want to look around—the general sight of the playground made me feel nauseous with it's simplicity—so I settled for glaring at the ground with vigor, trying to see if I could kill the ants that were crawling on my shoes by simply staring at them. It was working, at least I think, because my total body count was now seven, but that could have been the fact that I'd used my shoe at least three times. I did my best to ignore the yells and screaming that the park seemed to echo like a wind tunnel, but I couldn't block it all out, so I pressed a hand to my aching head, finger pistoling my temples with zero enthusiasm and grinding my teeth like a hungry wolf. I didn't want to be here and my aura was starting to scare the little children; the boy on the bench was now dry sobbing, in terror, I'd assume.

I only looked back up when Kaoru stool, his popsicle almost half gone and his lips tainted blue by the cheap food coloring. He cocked his head at me before flicking a hand at the entrance of the park. It was an invitation, I realized, to leave. If only I'd thought about doing that before instead of just sitting there like an idiot. However, this point went to the red head; I realized this as I stood, offering my popsicle to the crying child who had clearly wanted one from the beginning and had never listened to his parents if they warned him to not accept food from strangers, and followed as Kaoru set the procession towards the way we had come.

"That was nice of you," I could have sworn that he had murmured.

"I never did like sweets," I replied, shocking no malice behind my words. It was the truth, after all.

"Where should we go now?" As soon as he asked this question it dawned on me that we were stuck within the commoners realm, least someone who could recognize us should spot us and so tell our parents, but for some reason, I didn't mind this.

"You decide," I spat at him, "You're the one who dragged us here."

"I don't know where we are."

"Oh," any less a man would have thrown up his hands in despair or anger, but I kept mine firmly at my sides, supporting my school bag, twitching with the restraint of not strangling the Hitachiin. "Brilliant. That's just—what are you doing?"

Kaoru was spinning, twirling with one arm outstretched and pointing around him as he spun, like a broken compass, before finally coming to a halt and pointing directly into my face, fingers barely and inch away from my mouth. He smiled, or so it seemed—there was only a flash of the expression and it could have been a grimace or a pained yelp that was quieted, and lowered his arm before brushing past me in a completely random direction.

"Let's go this way."

**HAHA!!! It's like a foced playdate/date!!! I wonder where they're going to go...My how this story has rown...It's like just yesterday that my mind was pregnant with it, then just eighteen hours ago that the pen and paper were by my side, yelling "PUSH!!PUSH!!" And then...This cute little baby was born! And now--it's WALKING!!!!!!!!!!! -wails- Anyway, let me know if you enjoy my baby as much as I do! And please don't think I'm insane or anything...Happy reading!!**


	10. Chapter Nine

**I am so proud of myself! Seven hours after i finished the last chapter, I sat for an hour and a half straight--with only a drink and some pixie sticks--and I cranked this out! -claps for self- And it's awsome! I concluded the date!!**

Chapter Nine

We dawdled. It was the best single word that defined what the Hitachiin boy made me do—stand still, cross at cross-walks, browse store windows as if we had interest to buy, and stand in line as he bought yet another cold confection, this time in the form or two ice cream bars. I disliked it. I knew that I disliked it, and I silently brooded on this as I obligingly ate the sandwich. Something told me that Kaoru sensed my discomfort as well, for he was quite, too, glancing from side to side like the tourists we were supposedly playing the parts of—and in a way, we were tourists in the commoner world, and I'm sure it showed evidently on our faces.

A brown haired child made the mistake of pointing at us and proclaiming loudly to his mother or older sister, "Look! Homo-spatulas!!" Her age did not obscure her from what some would describe as a death glare, and in a matter of seconds, her face was buried in the older woman's skirt as the other one asked, "What? Where?" with an interest that was insane in anyone other than that Renge girl.

"It does look it," I heard a slightly familiar voice agree to something undisclosed, and I turned to face Kaoru with a sour look in my eyes, as if I had just eaten a lemon. "A date, I mean. It looks like we're cutting to class to go on a date…. I don't like it."

At least we were somewhat in the same mind—the stares were getting annoying, and after the child's outburst, they were becoming more and more numerous and daring, becoming louder and much less coveted and private. All I could do was sneer in agreement and turn sharply down an alleyway that was located part way down the street we were currently traveling, making Kaoru stop abruptly, tense, and then following me like a sick little puppy dog. Any other time, I would have gloated over the minimal power of direction I had over him, but at the moment, my emotions were far to wide spread and angered to recognize triumph.

"We're going to get lost," I heard the red head puff behind me as I quickened my pace in an attempt to get away from the crowd that had now crowded around the mouth of the alleyway and were murmuring about how "hansom, dashing and ravishing" we were together.

"Like we're not already," I tossed back over my shoulder. There was another huff, perhaps of an indignant, before silence except for the sound of our feet moving along the pavement and our breathing. Much better, in my opinion.

Then, from somewhere to my left, I heard a quiet, "I knew where I was going, and you would have, too, once we got there…"

"Oh?" I asked, drawling and filled with condescending interest. "And where was that?"

"The hospital…" The answer was so quiet that I had to actually stop and turn to glare directly at Kaoru, then demand he repeat himself so that I could hear what he had said. I sucked restraining, on my bottom lip and bit the soft flesh of my cheek with impatience and superiority.

"_My_ hospital, Hitachiin?"

"Yes."

"As in—my _family_ hospital? Where my _father_ works?" Could he really be that stupid, or was this possibly a side effect of whatever medication they had him on? I couldn't tell, but my state of vindictive mind made me to believe the former and the latter with equal indifference. "Do you know what would happen if my father or one of my brothers saw me there? During school hours?"

I waited for a reply, tapping my foot with contempt upon the pavement. Kaoru shrugged, eyeing the ground and sliding a foot across the pavement, like a metro-gnome in time with my foot tapping. He seemed either unwilling or unable to answer me and I deemed it fit to scoff. The gruff sound was almost entirely out of my mouth when he finally said something, a fragmented sentence—in reality only one word.

"Help."

"Excuse me?"

"I…I wanted…" _help?_

Any better a man would have touched him in some form when the first tear rolled into sight and down his jawbone, collecting under his chin and then seeping into the clothing line of his shirt. Any honorable man would have offered to help, or at least offered a handkerchief and a pat on the hand. Any woman would have held his hand, or kissed him, and any person like Tamaki would have cried with him. I realized that some time later, I think, but was too caught up in my own selfish notions to actually care what was going on in his brain or compare it to mine.

"You wanted _what_?" I spat the last word as if it were some sort of cure word, cutting the pained silence that had slowly been enveloping Kaoru, making him look up with remarkably dry—if not somewhat red—eyes.

"I…I wanted you to help me," he confessed, one more tear gathering around the corner of his shockingly amber eyes before being lost in the rapid blinking. Judging from my state of shock and his following amendment, I am entirely sure that I treated him with a stare of indifference. "I…I remember, you, alright? I remember when he was me and I was him and there wasn't any difference between the two of us and then there was you—that Notebook Boy, and I remembered that your father owned the hospital where…" here it got a little hard to hear, and I do believe that Kaoru compensated for words he did not want to say with dry heaves and pitiful sniffling sounds. "I wanted…I wanted to see if you could help me keep him…on."

On? Like a light switch? Ah, yes, the older of the twin's life hung in the balance, or had done son until a little under a day ago, and here was the younger, begging me for help with saving his already long gone brother's life. It was the first moment that I couldn't remember completely hating him since that day with the therapist and mental break through or mental breakdown.

I treated Kaoru with nothing more than a impassive gaze that bore no secrets, nor any signs of the raging battle behind my eyebrows. How…this entire thing did not fit into anything I had thought nor recalculated. It was…off book…. And I kept walking, turned from him and continued down the somewhat smelly commoner's alleyway, thinking.

Admittedly, I was waiting for him to follow me. I paused slightly before continuing at a slower pace when I did not immediately hear the red head following me down the walkway, only resuming my normal pace when he was within a foot of my presence.

That pain…It had been so raw and unprecedented for a boy who hadn't talked to the object of his unreturned feelings since he had been six and crying over his brother's lifeless body in the hospital hallway. I did not understand it nor did I think I would ever feel anything that could compare to that—not even for my brothers. Perhaps my sister, but never for a brother. Perhaps it had been because I wasn't a twin, nor ever grown within a close knit bond like, as I would guess, those two had before.

I wanted to say something snappish to lower his self esteem—at least part of me did, and the other part of me wanted to go home, draw a nice bath, then hold my breath underwater until I felt that burning sensation in my lungs and heart before resurfacing. Instead, my mouth opened of its own accord and two words left my throat, laced with more feeling and meaning that any I had ever said to any one human being had been, except for Tamaki that day he had forced his presence at my house and forced me to confront my true inner demons.

"I'm sorry."

There was nothing. Kaoru did not respond, and we reached the other end of the alleyway, from the mouth of which we could see the extensive hill that separated poor from middle class to high class by a visible line of creativity and design that was all to evident from this look out. I could see Ouran, the initial path we had run to get to the commoner park that was now behind us, the little shop corner, and several street crossings. Something that I would later excuse as heart burn or pride at my physical endurance, fluttered inside my chest, and I couldn't help but flash what could pass as a smile in no one's direction.

We continued to walk in a silence so absolute that I figured that it was possible that Kaoru hadn't heard a single think I had said, and I was relieved for a while, letting loose the clamp-like grip that my teeth held on the inside of my cheek. However, that reassurance was shattered when something brushed my knuckles and finger tips momentarily traced the back of my hand, as if wishing to hold it tightly, for comfort and reassurance. My limb twitched, successfully jerking the fingers from my skin and getting ready to object and question what he was playing at when I finally got my response.

"Thank you. I'm sorry, too." As for what, I could not tell you. In confusing, I looked to Kaoru and saw what could either be a grimace of internal pain or a…smile?

However, before I could confirm that, he turned away and I noticed that my chest was hurting. It was just then that I realized I had been holding my breath, and took the second to breathe before continuing the walk.

**Feelings! There're so many feelings in this chapter, if I do say so myself! -swells with pride- MY BABY!! Anyway, I'm sure you've tended to notice that I like to make them have important things to circle aroundas they realize their feelings. Kyouya's mom's birthday, the founding of the club, and so there is another birthday in the future! November 22 is all I'll say ;D**


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